CEYLON BRANCH ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY. 



55 



semblance except the vowel mark, which only shews that 

 both terminate in a long a. Again, the sound which one 

 emits, when he wishes to repudiate any statement passed 

 upon him, with less or more force, is expressed, in all its 

 features, in both cases by these Roman letters ba and bha, 

 But in Singhalese the same two sounds are expressed thus 

 S)o and tD3, which, just as in the former case, have no re* 

 semblance to each other, though one cannot fail to remark, the 

 almost identical resemblance between the letter for kha, and 

 that for ba, two articulations nevertheless formed at the op- 

 posite extremities of the vocal tube, and as distinct as possible. 



A great advantage then, in a philosophical point of view, 

 attaches to the universal use of one symbol, such as h, to in- 

 dicate the aspiration. It is only needful to be remembered 

 ly Englishmen, that this letter thus used, possesses this 

 value, and this only ; except, of course, when it follows s, in 

 which case, both taken together have the usual simple sound 

 of sh as in shame. But it is particularly to be remembered, 

 that it never forms, as in English, a simple sound with t, to 

 produce the effect of the Greek theta, as in the words this, 

 that, death, &c. 



The attached simple vowel, or spiritus lenis, which follows 

 every consonant sound in the oriental alphabets, is more 

 difficult to represent ; for both a, and u, between which it 

 lies, have a specific phonic value of their own, with which it 

 is undesirable to interfere. As heard in Singhalese, this 

 universal vowel is generally the French e, as heard in the 

 article le. In English, it is represented occasionally by 

 all the vowels, as when we say, " a mother bird flutters over 

 her young." The oriental grammarians, consider it as a 

 short, and consequently have no medial or final form for a 

 short a. The ordinary vocal or vowel stream of the voice, 

 however, on which consonants are articulated during ordinary 

 speech, does not give such so open a state of the organ, as 



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