PART IIL

ORTHOGRAPHICAL FORMS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

CHAPTER I.

THE RELATIONS OF ORTHOGRAPHY TO ORTHOEPY.

DEFINITIONS.

§ 177. ORTHOGRAPHY is a term derived from the Greek word op0úc, right, and ypapi, writing. It means the correct writing or spelling of words by means of letters.

ORTHOGRAPHICAL FORMS are those combinations of letters in the written language which represent to the eye the sounds which are expressed by the voice in the spoken language.

§ 178. In the order of nature and time, the spoken language must exist before the written language. In the same order, Orthoepy takes precedence of Orthography. In the early stages of a language, the end aimed at by orthography is to represent to the eye, in visible marks, what orthoepy has already represented to the ear in audible signs. In the later stages of a language, the orthography governs the orthoepy, bringing out the sounds of the letters which were once only silent or modified. The letters of the alphabet, in their original and legitimate use, are the elements of the written language, employed to express the elements of the spoken language.

A PERFECT SYSTEM OF LITERAL NOTATION. § 179. In a perfect system of notation by letters, the chief conditions are as follows:

1. Every phonetic element should have its own sign or letter. 2. A sign or letter appropriated to one phonetic element should never be employed to represent another.

3. Phonetic elements resembling each other should be represented by signs or letters resembling each other. Thus the

sounds represented by the letters b and p resemble each other, and the letters themselves resemble each other.

4. Phonetic elements differing from each other should be represented by letters differing from each other. Thus the sounds represented by i and o differ widely from each other, and the letters also differ widely in form.

The first of these conditions will prevent a deficient notation; the second, a confused one; and the four taken together will make the body of sounds and their representatives collectively commensurate with each other.

THE

OBJECT OF A LITERAL

NOTATION.

180. The purpose of a literal notation is to convey to the mind, by the agency of the eye, that which living speech communicates by means of the ear; it is, as it has often been expressed, to render sounds visible. As there is not any natural connection between forms and sounds, this combination must be originally the work of arbitrary assignment, and, previously to any compact for this purpose, any character may stand for any sound. Yet, even in arbitrary appointment, if we would avoid confusion, we must submit to certain rules; and, to render a system of literal notation completely perfect, the following circumstances are required: 1. That every articulate sound should have its own fixed and indisputable representative. 2. That a character appropriated to one sound should never be employed to represent another."-NARE's Orthoepy, Preface. Probably no Alphabetic System whatever answers all the conditions mentioned in the last section. The Sanscrit is often mentioned as approximating the nearest to a perfect notation of the sound system of the language. The alphabetic characters usually employed in writing Sanscrit are called Devanagari, signifying the Alphabet of "the city of the gods," from nagara, a city, and Deva (Deus), a god. The number of the letters is about fifty. The permutations to which Sanscrit is subjected in conformity with the laws of Euphony are very numerous. These extend even to Syntax, in changing the final and even the initial letters, in order that they may be adapted to the sounds. Compared with the Alphabetical Sounds of other languages, taking articulation for articulation and value for value, there are ten sounds less in Russian than in Sanscrit, twelve less in Greek, fifteen less in German, and eighteen less in Latin.

The Roman and the Italian alphabetic characters are used to ex、 press the phonetic elements of the English language. By compar ing this alphabet, consisting of twenty-six letters, presented to the eye, with the forty sounds, simple and compound, in the table (§ 118), presented to the ear, it is evident that it does not include the first condition mentioned above of a perfect system of notation. Neither does it include the second, third, or fourth. See § 179.

CLASSIFICATION

OF THE ELEMENTARY SIGNS.

§ 182. LETTERS, from the Latin litera, a mark, through the French lettre, are the signs or representatives of the phonetic elements or the elementary sounds. They are classified by the same names as the sounds themselves, viz., Vowels and Consonants. They are the first elements of the written language, as the simple sounds are of the spoken language.

It should be constantly borne in mind that the names of the letters are not the same as the elementary sounds which they represent. Thus the name of the letter m does not enter as an element into the word man when pronounced, but another sound which it represents does. It is true that some of the name sounds of the vowel letters are the same as the elementary sounds which they represent. Thus the name sound of the let ter a is the same as the sound which it represents in the word fate; but it is not the same as that which it represents in all, father, fat, as may be shown by isolating the sound.

The VOWELS, that is, the vowel letters, are a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes w and y. A, o, u, and w represent the broad vowel sounds; e, i, and y the small vowel sounds.

y.

The CONSONANTS, that is, the consonant letters, are p b, ƒ v, td, kg, sz; h; l, m, n, r; j, c, q, x, and sometimes w and Here we have, first, the representatives of the Cognate sounds; then the Aspirate h; thirdly, the Liquids, l, m, n, r; finally, the Double letter j, with the Redundant signs c, q, and x.

The Consonants, likewise, have been classified according to the organs by which they are produced, whether chiefly by the lips, the teeth, or the palate. B, p, f, v, and m have been called Labials. D, t, s, z, j, g when equivalent to j, and c when equivalent to s, Dentals. K, g, r, l, q, and c when equivalent to k, Palatals. They are also called Gutturals.

S and z are also called Sibilants, from the hissing noise attending their production. M and n are also called Nasals, from their relation to the nose. L and r are sometimes called Linguals. T, d, and n are sometimes called Cerebrals.

A DIPHTHONG is two vowel letters joined in one syllable, as ea in eagle, oi in voice.