262 



greater part of the American languages, is en- 

 tirely destitute of certain letters, as/ 1 , b, and d. 

 No word begins with an /. The same observa- 

 tion has been made on the Mexican tongue, 

 though it is overcharged with the syllables tli, 

 tla, and itl, at the end or in the middle of 

 words. The Chaymas substitute r for Z, a sub- 

 stitution that arises from a defect of pronunci- 

 ation common in every zone*. It is thus that 

 the Caribbees of the Oroonoko have been trans- 

 formed into G alibi in French Guiana by con- 

 founding r with I, and softening the c. The 

 Tamanack has made choraro (solalo) of the 

 Spanish word soldado. The disappearance of 

 the f and b in so many American idioms arises 

 from the intimate connection between certain 

 sounds, which is manifested in all languages 

 of the same origin. The letters j\ v, b, and p } 

 are substituted one for the other ; for instance 

 in the Persian, peder, father, pater ; burader 

 frater ; behar, ver ; in Greek, phorton (for- 

 ton), biirde ; pons, fouss. In the same man- 

 ner with the Americans / and b become p ; and 

 d becomes t. The Chaymas pronounce patre, 

 Tios, Atani, aracapucha, for padre, Dios, A 'dan, 

 and arcabuz (harquebuss). 



In spite of the relations which we have just 



* The substitution of r for / characterizes, for example, the 

 Bashmouric dialect of the Coptic language, 

 t Whence the German bruder, with the same consonants, 



