THE LANGUAGES OF THE INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO- 225 
(r, y, l ), and the nasal, or those in which it passes out through 
the nose, n , m, rig. The r may be considered as a letter con¬ 
tinually endeavouring to pass into the non-aspirates, and 
forced back into the weak aspirates by the vibration of the 
tongue against the anteriour part of the palate, the posterior 
margin of the tongue being applied to the palate. A gut¬ 
tural r exists in "some languages The l is produced by the 
anteriour part of the tongue being pressed close against the 
palate, and the posteriour margins kept free for the passage 
of the breath. It has a resonant character, from the air 
being forced into, and rebounding from, the hollow formed 
by the anteriour part of the tongue and the palate. In the 
y the posteriour part of the tongue is pressed at the sides 
against the palate, and the vocal passage narrowed. It is in 
fact a consonantal % produced by a stronger breathing and 
closer pressure of the tongue against the palate* Of the 
nasals the n only differs from / in the breath passing in 
smaller volume through the more difficult passage of the 
nose, and the m only differs from the n in the hollow being 
extended anteriourly to the lips. In the ng the posteriour 
margins of the tongue are pressed against the posteriour 
marginal basis of the palate, and the opening of the throat 
narrowed. The weak aspirates, from the volume of air being 
so proportioned to the passage as to be emitted easily or 
with little effort, approximate more to a vocalic character 
than the other consonants. Hence they are included in the 
class called, with doubtful propriety, semi- vowels. 
The-non aspirate sounds are properly only three, but each 
has a rapid or forcible (designated tenues, sharp, surd, hard) 
and a slower or weaker form (designated medial, flat, sonant, 
soft.) In the former the breathing is the usual strong expi¬ 
ration. In the latter, the breath is thrown or drawn up 
from the throat, and the sound is consequently more reso¬ 
nant. In this class also the length of the vocal tube varies. 
The mimunum length, in which the valve is formed by the 
posteriour dorsum of the tongue being forcibly applied to 
the soft palate, produces k % g; the middle, in which the 
valve is formed by the tongue being pressed closely against 
the hard palate, produces t, d ; and the maximum, in which 
the valve is formed by the lips being pressed closely against 
each other, produces p, b. All these sounds are caused by 
the sudden release of the pent up air, on the opening of the 
guttural, linguo-palatal, and labial valves respectively. 
It appears from the above that besides the characters of 
aspirate, (strong and weak, oral and nasal), and nonaspirate, 
