LAN 
languages, which were formed before arti- 
culation was become easy. Yet 2, as the 
shades of distinction between them, when 
employed alone or together, are too nice to 
furnish, at least to the unpractised ear, 
many obviously different words; and as 
man was not at first in that low state of 
intellect in which he has sometimes ap- 
peared, a vocabulary formed of such sounds 
would be very inadequate to his wants ; 
and therefore we must suppose that in the 
early languages there would be very few 
words without consonant sounds. 3. Some 
of the first articulations of man were, with- 
out doubt, employed in naming those of the 
inferior animals with which he was concern- 
ed. Now their names would almost cer- 
tainly be given from their distinguishing 
cries ; and the cries of such animals consist 
of consonant sounds, each followed by a 
vowel sound. 4. As articulation would at 
first be nearly as difficult as we now pet- 
ceive it to be in children, the first words 
would be composed of simple articulations, 
that is, of consdnant sounds following each 
by a vowel ; and new words would be 
formed by the combination of such words : 
so that in the early languages all com- 
pounds would be formed by the combina- 
tion of simple articulations. 5. The greater 
part of consonant sounds cannot be sound- 
ed singly without vowels, nor together, 
without vowels intervening. In many cases 
this is evident to the ear ; and where it is 
not perceived, it often is the" fact, though 
the acquired rapidity of utterance may 
render it very little percdptible. 6. Some 
languages do not admit of any two conso- 
nant sounds together. The Tartar lan- 
guage always requires a vowel between two 
consonants. The Russian, we believe, does 
the same. The Chinese never join two 
consonants, unless we must except ng ; but 
this appears to be only a simple sound, 
though represented by tw'o of our letters. 
With respect to the Chinese the point is of 
consequence ; because there is great reason 
to believe that they came from the stock of 
the Egyptians, before there had been any 
consideiable addition to their vocabulary 
by combinations of sounds, and before the 
transition had been made from hierogly- 
pliical to alphabetical writing. It is true 
many of (he Chinese words end in conso- 
nants, which seems to render improbable 
the position advanced : but it is to be ob- 
served that in such oases the w'ords should 
be considered as of two syllables ; for it is 
impossible, in continued speaking, to utter 
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a complete consonant sound at the end of a 
wmrd, without emitting a vowel sound. 7. 
That the Hebrew, which is to be consider- 
ed as a representative of all the cognate 
eastern languages, never sounded a conso- 
nant without a vowel, may be inferred from 
this circumstance, that those who invented 
denotements of vowel sounds, while at 
least the leading features of the pronuncia- 
tion remained, thought it necessary to add, 
or suppose understood, a vowel sound after 
every consonant. 
Respecting the Chinese language onr 
readers will find many particulars in the 
article before referred to, viz. Writing, 
origin of, alphaheiicul. 
LANIARD, a short piece of rope or line 
fastened to several machines in a sliip, and 
serving to secure tliem in a particular place, 
or to manage them more conveniently; 
such are the laniards of the gun-ports, the 
laniard of the buoy, the laniard of the cat- 
hook, &c. 
The principal laniards used in a ship are 
those employed to extend the shrouds and 
stays of the masts by their communication 
with the dead-eyes and hearts, so as to 
form a sort of mechanical power, resem- 
bling that of a tackle. 
LANIUS, the shrike, in natural history, a 
genus of birds of the order Piem. Generic 
character : bill straightisii, w'ith a tooth or 
notch near tlie end of the upper mandible; 
the tongue jagged at the end ; outer toe 
connected with the middle one so far as the 
first joint. These birds are ranked by 
Gmelin with the Accipitres, and have been 
by others placed in the order Passeres; 
according to Kramer, Scopoli, and Pennant, 
however, they most appropriately attach to 
the Pic®. There are, according to Gmelin, 
fifty-six species. Latham enumerates forty- 
nine, of w'hich it will be sufficient to notice 
the following: L. excubitor, the great 
shrike, is about the length often inches, and 
found in France in great numbers, but rare 
in England. It subsists on insects and 
small birds, seizing the last by the throat 
and strangling them, and then fixing them 
on a thorn, from which it tears them piece- 
meal and devours them. To decoy them 
within its reach it imitates the songs of 
many birds, which approach, delighted by 
the sounds, and unsuspicious of the danger. 
It is a favourite bird with husbandmen, as 
it is considered by them a mortal enemy to 
rats, mice, and other species of vermin. " It, 
however, prefers mountainous and seuiuded 
situations to the neighbourhood of mankind. 
