S. Porter on the Vowel Elements in Speech. 313 
nearer to a; and the presumption is confirmed by the fact that 
the A.-S. long o became the English 00, and that this 00 ex- 
pressed the long o sound till at least the sixteenth century. The 
transition on this line is naturally from the long a; while the 
short @ would move directly only on the other line, through é: 
thus we have in Anglo-Saxon a short dé as the more frequent 
correspondent of Gothic short a,—as A.-S. dig, mdy, at, that, 
biid, girs, gaf, &e., for Gothic dags, mag, at, thata, bath, gras, 
gaf, &c. (Hing. day, may, at, that, bade, grass, gave, &c.).”" 
ther, from A.-S. ori, fader, &c., and as our Southerners, some 
gual line: as in git, yis, es, ketch, for get, yes, as, catch, Ac. ; 
the same weacta ant aaa which leads to this inclines also to 
substitute the open non-labials, in the u, 0 and a groups, for the 
close labials, as requiring a less wide opening of the jaws, and 
In general less effort of the organs. 
_The French, as from the Latin, affords numerous examples of 
direct transition on the lingual line, in both a forward and a 
backward direction: as cher, sel, tel, from carus, sal, talis; SIX, 
se 
crois, avoir, from me, credo, habere; conseil, justesse, 
verre, from consilium, justitia, possideo, vitrum 
um, &c. : 2 
On the back-palatal line, we find in English the u sound, in ag 
._ . See the Grammars of Fiedler and of Miatzner for a full detail of lett 
im the derivation of the English from the parent tongues. bare 
