CEYLON BRANCH— ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY. 



53 



Spanish word Badajos, and in many Malay words. Were it 

 not for the Arabic and its branches, which having two ks 

 analogous to k and q requires the latter for this purpose, this 

 place might be filled up by q, which is now disregarded. 



For practical purposes, however, we must retain the letters 

 in their usual lexigraphical order, of which it will be no 

 violation if we write them in lines, as we do words composed 

 of them, and not all in one line, or in a vertical column like 

 the Chinese. 



m 



1— H 



^ Consonants. 



a 



b 



c 



{i 







e 



f 



g 



h 







i 



j 



k 



1 



m 



n 







p 



# 



r 



s 





u 



V 



w 



* 



y 



Z 



The only other important remark which remains to be 

 made respecting these letters, and the Roman alphabet, is, 

 that though there is reason to believe, that in its origin it 

 was syllabic, that is, every letter implied also a vocal or 

 vowel sound, it is now strictly elementary ; mutes are truly 

 mutes, and semi-vowels no more than semi- vowels. To form 

 a syllable with any letter, a vowel must be joined to it. It 

 is indeed true, that we name the letters bee, cee, dee, &c, but 

 their value is rather ab, ac, ad, &c, the a in these syllables 

 being occupied by some letter proper of the word into which 

 they enter ; and it is a great improvement in teaching the 

 alphabet, to return to this old way, now treated of as new, 

 under the name of the phonic system. The Deva Nagari 

 alphabet on the other hand, and those modelled after it, such 

 as the Singhalese, are still syllabic alphabets. Every conso- 

 nant has a phonic breathing or vowel following its utterance ; 

 and these vowels or phonic breathings are always admitted to 



