168 S. Porter on the Vowel Elements in Speech. 
elements that the laws of syllabication and euphony and the 
processes of phonetic _prasrenstesg depend far more than on 
auditory impressions. out a true physiological analysis, 
investigation into the ss ‘of phonetic change must be merely 
empirical : only so far as an pa aaa ‘thereto is one 
ean un yr ete cd coats claim r ank as a scie 
o r 
will hardly be questioned. To one who should derive his ideas 
on the subject baht se Bourgeois Gentilhomme of Moliére, such 
studies might indeed seem idle and ridiculous; but those who | 
know anything of the subject see in it a matter of practical as 
well as scientific interest, sufficient to invite and to warrant the 
thorough and minute treatment which alone can Se valuable 
resu 
but partial success. hile there is a 2 eral agreemen 
many leading points, eeets is still on many others a ere 
diversity of vi rvations wanting in precision have | 
to a corresponding vagueness in the use of terms, Mere inci- 
dental concomitants have been mistaken for essential matters. 
fi 
tending to be thus complete has presented claims so demonstra- 
bly valid as to compel a general acceptance. Dr. Briicke, of 
Vienna, the author of a most thorough and able treatise on 
phonology, remarks that ‘the formation of the vowels still pre- 
sents to us considerable theoretical difficulties, which it will take 
a long time perhaps to solve ina satisfactory manner.”’ Prof. 
Max Miiller, in the second series of his Lectures, treats the phys- 
iology of the vowels with a good deal of particularity, but 
makes no attempt to present a complete and exhaustive scheme. 
In short, a true system of the vowels has thus far remained & 
desideratum. 
ator, ot less essential is the careful training of the ear to 
the just disorimination of articulate sounds. Then, the pee 
ments—to e an ee again and again—will n 
much eareful attention, and eall for some ingenuity of contriv- 
ance. A slight variation of the “ physiologic rocess,” so slight 
as e ly perceptible, or not at all perceptible without 
observation of a aie kind, will —— result in a marked dif- 
? Cited at second-hand from Prof. R. L. s Investigations into the Laws of 
English Aeon and Pronuneiation (New ¥ Work: 1862). 
