310 S. Porter on the Vowel Elements in Speech. 
for the establishment of principles of phonetic change. There 
are recognized in Italian an 7 vowel, and a “close” and an “open” 
e,—so called,—the close (chiuso) being like the e of our scheme, 
or nearer to the é, and the open (aperto) either precisely or nearly 
like the d So there is a wu, and a “close” and an “open” 0,— 
the close nearer to the u, and the open probably nearer the 4, 
than is the o in the scheme.” Thus, three stand in order in what 
, L called the lingual series, and three in the back-palatal, or guttu- 
ral. Of each there is a long and a short; and these with the a 
our scheme or nearer to the é, and the Latin o to have been the 
o or nearer the u, we find the same rules in each set of these changes. 
We have (1) short ¢ changed to so-called ‘close e”—é or e of the 
scheme, and short e to nearly if not precisely our dé vowel; and 
again, short « to “close o,” and short o to nearly if not fully 
oO 
and e to “open e;” and again wu to ) 
ere also we have the original vowel short, though in a syllable 
greater weight and predominance of the vowel sounds in mod- 
"It may seem that one or two more vowel-places should be marked on the 
back-palatal part of our seale, since the ear can distinguish the though in- 
deed only for the close or close and middle degrees: perhaps so many ought to be 
noted,—certainly if demanded by the exigencies of any single language. 
we NS eee ate ey eae 
