252 
A SPECIMEN OF 
June, 
different claps of the tongue than the former, yet it does not employ 
them so often as the latter. 
The system of orthography, and pronunciation here made use 
of, is the same which I have adopted for the Sichuana language, and 
will be found more fully explained in another part of this volume. 
But it is necessary to state, in this place, that the comma (') imphes 
that the following syllable should be preceded by the first clap ; the 
same mark inverted (') requires the second ; and the double inverted 
comma, (") the third. 
The Jirst, or dental clap is produced by pressing the tongue 
against the upper front-teeth and suddenly drawing it away, so as to 
give a sound resembling that which some people make as a mode of 
expressing vexation. This is the most acute of the three, or that 
which gives the highest tone. 
The second or palatial is formed by applying the tongue to the 
middle of the palate, or roof of the mouth, and by withdrawing it 
in the same manner, a clucking noise is produced, of a lower tone 
than the first. 
The third or guttural is similarly formed by placing the tip of 
the tongue against the hinder part of the palate; by which the same 
kind of noise as the second, but of a graver or still lower tone, 
is produced ; and requiring a greater effort of enunciation. 
In all of these three, which have already been correctly described 
by Le Vaillant, the lips do not touch each other ; and the sound is 
followed so immediately by the syllable, to which it belongs, that 
both seem to form but one syllable. The difficulty of pronunci- 
ation, for European organs, is least in the first, and greatest in the 
third. Yet without these clapping sounds, the words would be un- 
intelligible to a Hottentot ear ; and cannot therefore be omitted in 
speaking any of the dialects of their language. 
Some writers, have adopted the mode of indicating all these 
claps, which they did not distinguish from each other, by prefixing 
the letter t to the word or syllable ; as tki/. It appears also that some- 
times a g or a k has been used to express the third sort ; as in the 
word gnu. This circumstance is here mentioned for the purpose of 
