188 PROCEKDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



presei'vation of obsolete letters, many of tliem inserted ^by way ot 

 mistake, is not so much an aid as a stumbling block to the student of 

 language. His problem is this — what is the speech of a people, how 

 has it developed, through what changes has it passed 1 The matters 

 which he desires most to know are the changes which take place in 

 language, that he may discover and apply the law of the change. 



I make use of the vowels of the Koenig forks for many reasons. 

 As already said, they embrace the highest and lowest tones of the 

 human voice, are equi-distant one from another and are common to 

 all speech. An objection such as this I have heard : they are 

 universal and therefore not necessarily English. A univerae that 

 does not include English-speaking countries, or universal vowels that 

 are not necessarily found in the English tongue, would be rarities 

 indeed ; round squares simply, or I'ound squai-es in the shape of 

 isosceles, rhomboidal triangles. With other scholastic lumber they 

 should be sent to Pai'is for exhibition next year at the centenai-y of 

 the Great Revolution. Second, these sounds may be used as aids in 

 and tests of vowel production. Mr. Ellis, who is, I suppo.se, our best 

 authority on phonetics, says that few men, probably no man, pro- 

 nounces his vowels i^recisely the same at all times. What elaborate 

 supports singers have by way of accompaniments and forks ! Yet 

 they do not at all times strike every note truly. What would their 

 execution be had they no accompaniments, no fork, and but a hazy 

 notion that a particular note were required 1 This is precisely the 

 situation of the vast majority of speakers. Again, as the sounds may 

 be made externally and the same at all times, they not only give us a 

 test of pure production, but enable us to allot their proper position to 

 intermediate vowels and to detect conqiounds. This is their chief 

 scientific function. A .suboi'dinate reason will have influence with 

 many ; that, as they are the principal sounds of European speech, 

 practice upon them will render the acquirement of modern languages 

 more easy. Tho.se who are engaged in voice-training would add, from 

 the experience of singers, that they are a better means than our 

 vowel name-sounds of developing the riches and power of the human 

 voice. To me their principal recommendation is that they set forth 

 in clear relief the dominant chai-acteristics of English, and may Vje 

 adapted to our printed forms with very great ease. 



