# Dissertations, Grammatical and Philological/Dissertation V

DISSERTATION V.
ON SOUNDS.
From the dignity of the consequences let him honour the principles. Harris, Hermes.
The remaining part of our task is to proceed from the ele‍ments of speech and writing, through the necessary rules of construction, to the nicer precepts of composition.
Those sounds formed by the mere voice, slightly impeded by different openings of the mouth are termed vowels; those that point out various interruptions and modifications of it, consonants. Of the former we have seven totally distinct; if we take in difference of time or length, eleven; if composition, fifteen. In describing these we shall take them in the order of the scale or scheme vol. i. p. 8.
In the first, the lips are rather pushed forward, the upper and under lip as distant as they ever are in speaking, the voice direc‍ted so as to strike upon the upper part of the mouth near the throad, and the sound prolonged. The second is the same sound shortened. In the third, the lips are rather pulled back, and brought nearer, the voice proceeding from a smaller aperture: this shortened is the fourth. With the same extente and protru‍sion of the lips, the voice proceeding from a still straiter aper‍ture, and striking upon the roof of the mouth near the middle, the fifth sound is pronounced. A short sound, uttered with the aperture more wide, but the position of the other organs and ​ direction of the voice as the last, is reckoned the sixth. Some dialects substitute the long sound of the sixth for the fifth, though such a sound does not occur in the politer English. As we shall have occasion to speak more of this provincial sound hereafter I shall put for it ē with the mark of a long sound over it. To know what this character denotes, I would desire the reader to pronounce pain like pen long——pēn; and fairy like ferry with the first syllable lengthened——fērry.—The voice issuing from a much smaller orifice, the tongue raised so as to touch the palate with its edges, and the voice directed to the forepart of the mouth just above the teeth, we hear the seventh sound of the scheme, or if much shorteend the eighth. The ninth is uttered with the lips gathered to a round form, the voice proceeding from about the same aperture in the throat as the first sound and tending directly to the lips, the tongue not moved. There is no short sound directly corresponding to this. For the tenth, the mouth must be nearly shut, the lips protruded and almost closed, and the voice lengthened out. The eleventh, as commonly pro‍nounced, is the short sound of this; but is now changed, in the genteeler circles, for one of the most diffcult sounds that we utter. In this, the aperture of the mouth and the protrusion of the lips are to be in a medium between the sounds au and oo; but the voice impelled with extreme suddeness so as almost to re‍semble a short cough. Its great singularity, brevity, and in‍distinctness have caused it to be mistaken for several other short sounds. For a; affectedly pronouncing "Sam people learn nathing, they so soon anderstand every thing": for e; Sem, nething, and enderstand: for o; Som, nothing, onderstand. It is of all vowels most difficult to be described, or denoted by other letters; is generally mispronounced; and seems invented for a test of breeding. In a few words the rustic sound of this vowel is au‍thorized by Mr Sheridan.
A compound sound or proper diphthong is two vowels coales‍cing, so as to form but one sound. The organs are disposed so as to pronounce the first vowel, but before that comes to a close, or that vocal impulse is finished, they are immediately and insensibly removed to the proper position for the other; and as, in the rainbow, it is not possible to say, here this colour ends, or there the other begins, though in the middle of any streak a definite hue may be perceived; so here, the ​ junction between the sounds must be concealed, though the ac‍tual expression of both be obvious to the delicate ear.
The only leading sounds of proper diphthongs naturalized in English, are au, ee, and oo. Au followed by ee forms two differ‍ent sounds, which are the twelfth and thirteenth of the scheme. The twelfth has the au litte dwelt on—the organs simply pre‍paring to utter it change immediately to ee, on which they dwell a considerable time. The thirteenth, on the other hand, has the au helf very long, so as to appear broad and full; while the ee is more slightly touched. The last that begins with au has it followed by oo, and is placed the fifteenth in the scheme. This is exemplified in sound, town, trowel, pronounced sau-oond, tau-oon, trau-ooil or trau-wil. Ee or y (for their difference is trivial) followed by oo composes our fourteenth sound so frequent‍ly marked by the single character u, thought it has other modes of spelling. Ee or y is likewise capable of a coalition with any other vowel or diphthong sound whatever, as hinted vol. 1. r. 111. but as this consists in barely expressing those sounds after it, as oo in yoo, and is invariably denoted by y or i placed before them, as in yarn, ye, yet, glorious, foliate, &c. it needs no futher remarks. The proper diphthongs beginning with oo or w being equally regular (as in wag, ooag; wafer, ooaifur; we, ooee, &c.) may be as easily dismissed.
We come now to the consonant sounds, or to the nature of those modifications of the voice, which are effected by the outer organs. From the 16th to the 29th, together with the 34th and 35th, there are couples, every two of which have the or‍gans in the same position, but differ in this; the former has them lightly touching, so as to emit the voice even at the mo‍ment of contact, and at the same time a compression near the larynx; the latter is distinguished by a smart pressure of the organs which totally obstructs the voice till the organs are rap‍idly disjoined to pass to the next sound. Thus, whoever will articulate b or d will find the organs but in slight contact, the voice continued, but the larynx or top of the windpipe compres‍sed or strained; in p or t he will perceive a sudden, forcible stoppage of all sound, which, were it attempted to be held, would produce entire silence.
With this discriminating remark, we may sum up the rest by saying, that the 16th and 17th sounds are formed by the meet‍ing of the lips; the 18th and 19th by applying the upper teeth pretty forward upon the under lip; the 20th and 21st by touching the root of the upper teeth with the tip of the tongue; the 22nd and 23rd by thrusting the tongue forward between the teeth; the 24th and 25th by raising the tip of the tongue to the roof ​ of the mouth, just hehind the place of d, leaving an exceedingly small aperture, passing through which the breath makes a his‍sing or sibilation: The 26th and 27th differ from the two pre‍ceding, only in having a larger aperture. In the 28th and 29th the middle of the tongue is raised to the roof of the mouth.
The 30th sound is made by applying the end of the tongue to the root of the upper teeth, and letting the voice glide gently over the sides of the tongue; the 31st by pointing the tongue towards the place of d or z, and suddenly producing a rattling vibration like the snarling of a dog; the 32nd by closing the lips, just as in b, only extruding part of the voice through the nostrils, while the 33rd just differs so much from d . In the 34th and 35th the tongue is elevated, just as if going to pro‍nounce g or k, when the voice is impelled through the nostrils, as in n. The 36th sound is not a consonant by the scientific de‍finition of this volume, 'tis a hard breathing before vowels, like a sigh; but with the more popular description, "letters not sounding alone", it agrees better.
The consonants are divided || according to the organs employed in their formation into labials, dentals, palatines, and nasals . The labials b, p, v, f, employ the lips: the dentals are formed at or near the teeth, d, t, dh, th, z, s, zh, sh: in the palatines the palate is touched g, k, l, r: the nasals pass through the nose, m, n, ng, nk. Some have also linguals , such as employ the tongue; and gutturals issuing from the throat, of which latter there is only the h in our present English, but they are said to abound in some languages. The distinction into mutes and semivowels, and the subdistinctions of these, have already been treated of . The four unpaired consonants m, n, l, r, are de‍nominated liquids, I suppose from their easily mixing or flow‍ing along with the mutes, either before or after them.
It is beyond a doubt that many sounds are articulable, which do not occur in English. On the other hand, we have some sounds, that foreigners cannot master; or not without great difficulty. But it seems that all sounds might be taught, even to adults, by those who understood the philosophical description of them. From the same source might remedies be derived for lisping, which puts s for th or th for s—snaffling, which emits ​part of the voice continnally through the nostrils, instead of the nasal sounds only—stammering, especially when it proceeds from a difficulty in particular letters—and for all the minuter defects of articulation.
The past generations have doubtless pronounced differently from the present, using some sounds unknown to us, and ignorant of some that we express. The organical knowledge of sounds will preserve to our posterity the very image of our speech. It will influence the articulation of our public speakers, a character which perhaps most men are called upon in some way to assume. This knowledge can be beneath no one's most fixed attention that considers how great is the influence of manner—how neces‍sary for the artist in any line, to bestow as much care and thought on every minute part of his work, as the observer does on the whole—and how mad it is to defer the mastery of small matters because they are small, when, on that very account, they must be neglected in the moment of performance.
* Lat. vocales from vox the voice, voice-letters. † Lat. consonantes from con together, and sono to sound, letters sounding together with others.
* Diss. vii. † Mr. Steele, Prosodia Rationalis, Pref. p. ix. ‡ They are supposed to answer to the diphthongs of the antients, as they best agree with the etymology, Gr. Diphthoggos twice-‍sounding.
* Whence it has been termed the canine letter. † A person troubled with a cold in the head necessarily substitutes b and d; as for "No man can harm him"—Doa bad cad harb hib. ‡ Vol. 1. art. 17, ‍|| Wallis has a similar division of the vowels. § From labium, dens, palatum, nasus, Lat. ¶ Lingua. ** Guttur. †† Vol. 1. r. 17. 18. and notes.