354 



Application of the 'Roman Alphabet* 



[No. #, 



coat, you would still be obliged to make one to fit him, and herein lies 

 a very great difficulty." I consider it to be a fundamental principle 

 of the art of paleography, that the power of each symbol should be 

 so determined that its euphonic value in all combinations of symbols 

 shall be fixed and not variable, as is the case with the Eoman alpha- 

 bet, as it has been adapted to English and some other modern tongues ; 

 that these values should be readily ascertainable, and that, as far as 

 possible, distinct phonetic values should be represented by distinct 

 symbols and combinations of symbols, and the same always by the 

 same, wherever they occur. Now if we investigate the history of the 

 progressive development of alphabets, we will find that while these rules 

 have been steadily kept in view in the adaptation and modification of 

 alphabets in the East, they have been systematically set aside in most 

 modern languages of the West ; and the result is, that while an edu- 

 cated Eastern gentleman, seldom or never makes a mistake in ortho- 

 graphy, few Englishmen or Frenchmen can trust themselves to write 

 their own language without a pocket dictionary at their elbow. There 

 are again numerous letters in the Deva Nagari alphabet, for which we 

 have no corresponding signs in the Roman alphabet, and many sounds 

 in the former language of which no combination of the letters of this 

 alphabet will convey to the ear even an approximate idea. And the 

 same may be said of all the alphabets and languages derived from 

 this source, and also, though in a less degree, of the Arabic and Hebrew 

 alphabets. All attempts to express certain letters in the Arabic 

 alphabet in Roman characters have failed, and for obvious reasons all 

 future attempts will fail likewise. In short, if it be proposed to 

 make the alphabet of any one language the basis of an alphabet for 

 another language, its capabilities and powers must first be carefully 

 examined with reference to the requirements of that language, and its 

 redundancies eliminated, or its deficiencies supplied, as the case may 

 require. This was the course adopted by the Brahmans in regard to 

 the primitive alphabet of India, in the second and third century B. C, 

 and this was the course adopted by the learned Lepsius in the 19th 

 century A. D. when propounding his scheme for a missionary alphabet. 

 He did not set up the doctrine that any existing alphabet, much less 

 the Roman alphabet with its twenty * six letters, was perfect, in the 

 universal application of the term. He assumed rather the converse, 

 and the plan he adopted was as follows ; — 



