Analysis of Articulate Sounds. 1 15 



sonorous air be forced between them ; the J consonant of the 

 French is formed; which is a sonisibilant letter, as in the word 

 conclusion, confusion, pigeon; it should be called Je, and 

 should have a different character from the vowel i, with which 

 it has an analogy, as thus Y. 



II. If the back part of the tongue be appressed to the pendulous 

 curtain of the palate and uvula; and air from behind be forced 

 between them; the sibilant letter H is produced. 

 Ch Spanish. If in the above situation of the tongue and palate a 

 sound be produced behind; and the sonorous air be forced be- 

 tween them; the Ch Spanish is formed; which is a sonisibilant 

 letter, the same as the Ch Scotch in the words Buc/ranan and 

 loch: it is also perhaps the Welsh guttural expressed by their 

 double L as in Lloyd, Lluellen; it is a simple sound, and ought 

 to have a single character as x. 



The sibilant and sonisibilant letters may be elongated in pronun- 

 ciation like the vowels; thesibilancy is probably occasioned by the vi- 

 brations of the air being slower than those of the lowest musical notes. 

 I have preferred the word sonisibilants to the word semivocal sibilants; 

 as the sounds of these sonisibilants are formed in different apertures of 

 the mouth, and not in the larynx like the vowels. 



Orisonant Liquids. 



R. If the point of the tongue be appressed to the forepart of the 

 palate, as in forming the letters T, D, N, S, Z, and air be pushed 

 between them so as to produce continued sound, the letter R 

 is formed. 



L. If the retracted tongue be appressed to the middle of the palate, 



as in forming the letters K, Ga, NG, Sh, J French, and air be 



pushed over its edges so as to produce continued sound, the 



letter L is formed. 



The nasal letters m, n, and ng, are clear tremulous sounds like 



R and L, and have all of them been called liquids by grammarians. 



Besides the R and L, above described, there is another orisonant 



sound produced by the lips in whistling; which is not used in this 



