S. Porter on the Vowel Elements in Speech. 309 
by prefixing ana, In French, we have a short ¢ prefixed, in 
bien, brief, dieu, fiel, fier, pied, tent, &c., and an e before 
that is transformed to u, in feu, jeu, neuf, meule, peuple, heure, 
c. (from focus, jocus, novem, mola, populus, hora, &c.). In Ital- 
ian, the 7 prefixed to e and wu to o, form a marked feature: as 
fiero, sieda, buono, &e. Examples of the new element suffixe 
we have in our “longa” and “longo” with the vanish ;—in 
French, we have ¢ added to a of the Latin, in clair, a’mer, main, 
&e.; ¢ toe in O. Fr. mez, trevs, let, veile, &e. (now moi, trois, loi, 
voile, &c.), and in the modern frein, plen, veine, &c.; 7 to o in 
vox, connoitre, &c., and to u in sus (sum), &c.;—all of these 
digraphs having been once actual diphthongs. All such changes 
must accord with the laws of diphthongal combination, as before 
stated; to which may be added, that it is in converting a short 
vowel into a long one, and in giving greater quantity or weight 
to one already long, that the tendency to diphthongation is usu- 
ally manifested. 
may be replaced by another entirely different and perhaps he 
remote on the scale. Thus, through Fr. brief, we have Eng. 
govern, F 
pierce, the superadded 7 is the only element now he: 
age. 
The changes of this sort in the Italian as evolved from the 
Latin are strikingly confirmatory of certain leading features of 
the scheme here set forth. The Italian exhibits a remarkable 
regularity in its development, having been little disturbed by 
outside influences,—and is thus, so far as it goes, peculiarly 
Am. Jour. Sct.—Szconp SeriEs, VoL. XLII, No. 126.—Nov., 1866. 
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