SECTION CCXI.-IT IS REDUNDANT. The letter c, in words like city, may be replaced by s; and in words like cat, by k; ch, in words like chest, is equivalent to tsh; in words like mechanic, to k. In like manner, x is superfluous, ks, gz, or z being its equivalent. Qis superfluous, cw or kw being its equivalent. The English alphabet is thus redundant, and does not meet the second condition in Section CLXXIX. SECTION CCXII.-IT IS INCONSISTENT. Fin for resembles in sound v in van, but the letter ƒ has no resemblance to the letter v. Th in thin, and th in thine, sh in shine, have a relationship in sound, respectively, to t, d, and z, but not in form. The compound sibilant sound of j in just is spelled with the simple sign, j, while the compound sibilant sound in chest is spelled with the combination ch. The English alphabet is thus inconsistent. It does not meet the third condition in Section CLXXIX. SECTION CCXIII.-IT IS UNSTEADY. The letter c represents two sounds, as in city and in cat. G represents two sounds, as in gin and in gun. X represents three sounds, as in exert, apoplexy, Xenophon. The English alphabet is thus unsteady. It does not meet the second condition in Section CLXXIX. The defects of the English system of literal notation in its application to elementary sounds, are strikingly seen in Section CCIX, on equivalent letters. While it is true that no alphabet was ever invented which expresses all the powers of articulation common to mankind in general, or even the sounds of any one language according to the theory of a perfect notation, still it is believed that the English alphabet is the worst in its practical application. SECTION CCXIV.-IT IS INCONVENIENT IN LEARNING OTHER TONGUES. "Compared with other languages, the use of many letters in the English alphabet is singular. The letter i (when long or independent) is generally sounded as ee. With Englishmen it has a diphthongal power. The inconvenience of this is the necessity it imposes upon us, in studying foreign languages, of unlearning the sound which we give it in our own, and of learning the sound which it bears in the' language studied. So it is (among many others) with the letter j. In English, this has the sound of dzh; in French, of zh; and in German, of y. From singularity in the use of letters arises inconvenience in the study of foreign tongues. In using j as dzh there is a second objection. It is not only inconvenient, but it is theoretically incorrect. The letter j The letter was originally a modification of the vowel i. The Germans, who use it as the semi-vowel y, have perverted it from its original power less than the English have done, who sound it dzh. 27 ENG. LANG. 9.1 "The sound given to a in fate is singular. Other nations sound it as a in father. The sound given to the e long (or independent) is singular. Other nations sound it either as a in fate or as e fermé. The sound given to the i in bite is singular. Other nations sound it as ee in feet. The sound given to the oo in foot is singular. Other nations sound it as the o in note, or as the ó chiuso. The sound given to the u in duck is singular. Other nations sound it as the u in bull. The sound given to the ou in house is singular. Other nations, more correctly, represent it by au or aw. The sound given to the w in wet is somewhat singular, but is also correct and convenient. With many nations it is not found at all, while with those where it occurs it has the sound (there or thereabouts) of v. The sound given to y is somewhat singular. In Danish it has a vowel power. The sound given to z is not the sound which it has in German and Italian; but its power in English is convenient and correct. The sound given to ch in chest is singular. In other languages it generally has a guttural sound; in French, that of sh. The English usage is more correct than the French, but less correct than the German."-See LATHAM'S English Language. Having in this chapter seen what are the defects of the English alphabet for the purpose of noting sounds in the language, we are now prepared to examine, in the next chapter, the origin of these defects, and thus historically to account for them. QUESTIONS UNDER CHAPTER III. 1. What are the six principal defects of the English alphabet? 2. What facts can you mention to show that the English alphabet is deficient? 3. What facts can you mention to show that the English alphabet is redundant? 4. What facts can you mention to show that the English alphabet is inconsistent? 5. What facts can you mention to show that the English alphabet is unsteady? 6. What facts can you mention to show that the English alphabet is inconvenient in learning other languages? CHAPTER IV. SECTION CCXV. THE ORIGIN OF THE ENGLISH ALPHABET ACCOUNTS FOR ITS DEFECTS. THE English alphabet was not invented to express the phonetic elements and combinations of the English language. It was derived from the Phoenician alphabet, of which the Hebrew is a type, modified to express the sounds of the Greek language, thus becoming the Greek alphabet. This was modified to express the sounds of the Latin language, and thus became the Roman alphabet. This, in turn, was modified to express the sounds of the Anglo-Saxon language, and thus became the Anglo-Saxon alphabet. This, again, was modified to express the sounds of the English language, and thus became the English alphabet, with all its defects. In the stages of progress from oral communication to letters, PICTURE WRITING probably came first. In this way the ancient Mexicans transmitted the memory of the most important transactions of their empire. The next in order were HIEROGLYPHICS, which, like pictures, were the signs of things, or ideographic signs, though some of them were signs of the spoken language. Thus, ingratitude was indicated by a viper, wisdom by an ant, and impudence by a fly. The next step in the progress was the use of SYLLABIC CHARACTERS, which were employed as signs of sounds, and not as signs of things. SECTION CCXVI.-THE INVENTION. OF LETTERS. LETTERS representing the elementary sounds in the language constitute the last stage of improvement in the communication of thought by visible signs. These are called the alphabet, from alpha, beta, the two first letters in the list in the Greek language. When and where letters took their origin is not known. The Egyptians paid divine honours to the inventor of letters under the name of THEUTH. By the Greeks he was worshipped under the name of HERMES, and was represented commonly by a head alone, without other limbs. The head itself was that of a beautiful youth, having on it a petasus, or bonnet, adorned with two wings. He possessed no other part of the human figure but the head, because no other part was deemed requisite to rational communication. This head had wings, in order to represent words, the medium of this communication being, as described by Homer, ëπɛα πтepоévтa, winged words. SECTION CCXVII. THE HEBREW ALPHABET. The Hebrew alphabet is a type of alphabets used by the Shemitic nations, including the Phoenician. It consists of twenty-two consonants, some of which have the power of vowels, as follows:- = D; B; 2, Gimel, camel = G; 7, Daleth, door N, Aleph, ox= A; 2, Beth, house , He, window E; 1, Vau, hook H;, Teth, snake: T;, Jod, hand ox-goad L;, Mem, water M; 2, Nun, fish eye = 0; 5, Pe, mouth head R;, Shin, tooth Originally the letters were which began with the sounds = = T. = rude representations of the visible objects, the names of represented by, the several characters. Some of them still retain the resemblance of those objects, as, y, w. The language was written from right to left. SECTION CCXVIII-THE GREEK ABPHABET. The common opinion is that Cadmus, a Phoenician, who settled in Boeotia and founded Thebes, introduced letters into Greece, ▲.c. 1493. The Cadmean letters, it is commonly thought, were sixteen :—A, B, F, 4, E, (F), I, K, A, M, N, O, II, P, Σ, T. Upsilon should be viewed in connection with digamma. The Greeks took but twenty-one of the twenty-two Phoenician letters. The letter tsaddi, y, was never adopted by the Greeks. The letter P, koph, at first received under the name of koppa, was afterward ejected. ,, X, Y, Q were afterward added, in order to express sounds, probably, in the Greek, but not in the Phoenician language. Some of the Phoenician characters introduced into Greece were used with changed or new powers, according to the wants of the language which they were used to express. The form of the letters was also changed in the progress of time, so that the similarity is lessened between the Hebrew alphabet and the Greek. The manner of writing it was also changed. Ancient Greek, like the Hebrew, was written from right to left. It was afterward used as in the manner of ploughing, alternately from right to left and from left to right. It was subsequently written like the English, from left to right. Literas semper arbitror Assyrios fuisse; sed alii Ægyptios, alii apud Syros repertas volunt. Utique in Græciam intulisse è Phoenice Cadmum."PLINY, vii., 56. The sixteen letters which Cadmus carried into Greece were not his own, but eastern characters. Instead of inventing alphabetic writing, he deserves no more credit than does the mariner or the missionary who carries our letters to a distant shore. SECTION CCXIX.-THE ROMAN ALPHABET. The Roman alphabet was derived from the Greek. A part of the letters only were at first introduced, and afterward others. In accommodating the Greek alphabet to their own language, the Latins (1) dropped those letters that were not needed, and (2) they used some of the letters imported with a new power, and (3) they introduced some new letters. They dropped ¥, and X, and O, and K, and ☀ permanently. They dropped and Z for a time, and then restored them, placing them at the end of the alphabet. They used the letter digamma, F, with the power, not of v or w, but with that of F. They used the letter eta, H, with a new power, namely, that of h. They introduced the letter e, at first with the power of g as well as that of ; and also the letters v and j, which are modifications, the one of u and the other of i, and also the letter q, which seems to have come directly from the Phoenician alphabet, as the equivalent of koph or qoph; and also the letter y, which seems a modification of r. X and q are redundant. and ✪ ought to have been retained, inasmuch as ph and th do not properly represent the sound which they are employed to indicate. SECTION CCXX.-THE ANGLO-SAXON ALPHABET. = = th in The Anglo-Saxon alphabet was derived mainly from the Roman, from which, indeed, it differs by certain additions, omissions, and modifications. 1. It has the letter þ thin = 0 in Greek, which the Roman has not. 2. It has the letter ð th in thine, which the Roman has not. 3. It has the letter c, to the exclusion of k, in common with the Latin, but which the Greek has not. 4. It has the letter w, which the Roman has not. 5. It has the letter j, either with the power of y as in German, or of zh as in French, or of d-h as in English, which is not in the Latin or Greek. 6. It has not the letter g, which the Latin has. 7. It has not the letter z. 8. It has not the letter ", which the Roman has. It may have borrowed the letters þ, 8, from the Moso-Gothic, which, though for the most part it borrowed its alphabet from the Greek and Latin, may have borrowed them from the Runic, an alphabet of great antiquity, and long used in the north of Europe. Under the influence of the Norman-French, the Anglo-Saxon alphabet underwent some changes. The sound system of that language, derived from the Latin, bore a greater resemblance to that of the Romans than was to be found among the Gothic tongues. It was through the Norman influence that the letters þ, & unfortunately were dropped from the language. In other respects the alphabet was improved. The letters z, k, j were either imported or more currently recognised.—LATHAM's English Language. SECTION CCXXI.-OLD ENGLISH ALPHABET. The alphabet received from the Anglo-Saxons, modified by the Normans, underwent some other modifications. The letter 3, a corruption of the Anglo-Saxon 9, is found in Old English manuscripts. It sometimes is equivalent to our g, sometimes to y, and sometimes to gh. It has, properly, no connection with the letter, for which it has sometimes been improperly used. The character employed was the black letter, or the Gothic. Of these there were varieties, as the "set chancery," "chancery," and "running court." In time, the Roman character was introduced into modern English, and also the Italian, so called from the types used by Italian printers. Ligatures, that is, double letters, like & ♬ were formerly more frequently used than now, as were also double vowels, like œ œ. The character 3 was laid aside, g or y taking its place. Thus we have seen how the English alphabet was derived from the Phoenician alphabet, through the Greek, and the Roman, and the Anglo-Saxon alphabets. Having in the last two chapters examined the defects of the English alphabet, and also seen how they are historically accounted for, we are prepared to examine, in the next chapter, the expedients which have been resorted to in English orthography for expressing the sounds in the language. QUESTIONS UNDER CHAPTER IV. 1. Was the English alphabet invented to express phonetic elements and combinations in the English language? 2. From what successive alphabets was the English language derived ? 3. What was the first mode of communication by visible signs, and the second mode, and the third mode, before the invention of letters ? 4. From what is the word alphabet derived? 5. Is it known when and where letters were invented? 6. What is said of the honours paid to the inventor of letters by the Egyptians and the Greeks? 7. Of what alphabet is the Hebrew alphabet a type? 8. Of how many letters is the Hebrew alphabet composed, and what is said of them? 9. What is said of the shape of the letters, and in what direction was the language written? 10. What is said of the Greek alphabet? 11. What is said of the Roman alphabet? 12. What is said of the Anglo-Saxon alphabet! 13. What is said of the Old English alphabet? CHAPTER V. SECTION CCXXII.-ORTHOGRAPHICAL EXPEDIENTS. To remedy the defects of the alphabet, certain ORTHOGRAPHICAL EXPEDIENTS are extensively employed, especially in expressing the quantity of the vowels. The long, or independent, sounds of vowels are indicated in English orthography in several different ways. Here 1. The duplication of the letters, as in meet, door, seemly. the duplication indicates the long sound of e and the long sound of 0. This expedient was adopted at an early period in the history of the language, as is seen in words like wyyf (wife), lyyf (life), wee (we). But these indications are not to be relied on, inasmuch as the double vowel letter often represents a short vowel sound, as in took, book, flood. 2. The diphthongal notation, as in rain, meat, groan, soul, bowl. Here the addition of one vowel indicates the long sound of a, of e, and of o. Still there is no distinctness in the indication, inasmuch as the two last words might be taken to rhyme with foul and howl. 3. A silent e, as in fame, shade, mode. Here the silent e indicates the long sound of a and o. Anciently, such words were pronounced in two syllables. When this pronunciation ceased, the spelling remained, and the e mute indicates the long sound of the other vowel. Still the indication is imperfect, inasmuch as it cannot be continued in derivatives, like famous, shady, modish, which might be taken to sound like famine, shadow, model. |