A.PUIL — tiFT. 1859.] On the Power of the Letter p. 9 



etymology, which are written in Tamil with the p, hut in the 

 above two languages with an unequivocal ' t.' I am unable to do 

 more than indicate this source of corroboration on the authority of 

 one, who is acquainted with these languages. 



If the supposition of such a corruption as has been indicated is 

 accepted, it may not be impossible to trace progressive degrees in 

 the quantity of the corruption, from its maximum in the case of 

 the single p after a vowel, through its diminished form in the case 

 of this p following its nasal, when still, in many cases, a trace of 

 a softened ' r' accompanies the ' d down to its minimum in the 

 case of the doubled p, when usually, though not always, all traces 

 of the ' r' quite disappear. It would seem also as if some of the 

 vowels have a greater propensity than otheri to cause the appear- 

 ance of the trill. 



(b.) It remains, finally, to endeavour to determine for our p 

 the peculiar modification of ' t' sound which distinguishes it from p 

 and t—. Had the Tamil grammarian been a little more explicit in 

 assigning the particular part of the roof of the mouth which the 

 tongue has to clip in producing this letter and its corresponding 

 nasal, his authority might have decided the matter : but his lan- 

 guage is general. 



The pronunciation of surd consonants is the result of the emis- 

 sion of the breath through the mouth and lips modified by the 

 position of the tongue in relation to different parts of the mouth, 

 The labial surd u is the only exception. Excluding this last, 

 the articulation of the other consonants is effected either upon 

 a sudden separation of the root of the tongue from the throat, as 

 in ' k,' * ; or upon a similar separation of the body of the tongue 

 from the palate, as in the case of 4 ch,' (as in ' child'), « ; or upon 

 a corresponding separation of the tip of the tongue from different 

 parts of the mouth which it is capable of reaching, forming the 

 different 4 1* sounds. 



When the tongue is somewhat curled backwards, and then made 

 to touch the upper part of the palate the cerebral 1 1* (*_), will be 

 produced. This is the extreme position to which the tip of the 

 tongue can reach backwards in the pronunciation of a * t.' Its 

 extreme position forwards is at the tips of the front teeth : in this 

 Vol. ix. o. s: Vol. ti. n. s. 



