508 On the Origin of the Hindvi Language. [No. 5 



closely allied to the ordinary Nagari, but without mdtrds or vowel marks 

 and in this state it is perfectly unintelligible to all except the initiated. 

 Its use is therefore confined exclusively to drafts and cheques, and 

 even there, for the sake of precision, the sums have to be written with 

 such circumlocution as " rupees twenty, the double of which is forty 

 and quadruple, eighty, and the half of which is ten and quarter, five." 

 It is said that once a gomdstd wrote in it from Agra to his master's 

 family at Muttra, stating that his master was gone to Ajmere and the 

 big ledger was wanted. The words used were 



JBabu Ajmir gage ladi hahi iheja dijige. 



Without vowel marks and written continuously without breaks in 

 the native fashion, the words were read — ■ 



Bdbu aj mar gaga hadi dahu Bheja dijige. 



" Master is dead, send his wife," apparently either to perform a suttee, 

 or attend the funeral obsequies. The story may be false, but I firmly 

 believe that the mistake it is intended to ridicule, will multiply many 

 fold, if Indian languages be written in the Roman characters without 

 diacritical marks. 



One great argument in favour of introducing the Eoman characters 

 in India, is the uniformity of sounds which will be secured to the 

 whole country. But the argument is based on a fallacy. Sounds are 

 regulated by the condition of our vocal chords, and as those chords 

 must change in their tension, elasticity and power, with every change 

 of climate, human organs of speech cannot produce the same sounds 

 with equal facility everywhere. Hence it is that the Eoman characters 

 have no uniformity in Europe. They differ in almost every dif- 

 ferent country. The alphabet of England is not the alphabet of 

 France, nor is the alphabet of France that of Germany, Sweden or 

 Eussia. In each of those countries, the same letters are very differ- 

 ently pronounced, and the difference is greatly increased when they 

 coalesce into words. Further, they do not retain the same sounds in 

 all positions. Their natures and powers vary, and they become hard 

 or soft, long or short, sounding or mute, with reference to the natures 

 of their neighbours, and hence a constant source of difficulty presents 

 itself in their use. This is well illustrated in the pronunciation of 

 Englishmen and Frenchmen. The two races use the same alpha- 

 bet borrowed from one common source, and yet such is the force of 

 genius loci on sounds., that Englishmen find the greatest difficulty in 



