New-York daily tribune., 1858-07-03
-o,IrICAL Aspects or PHONOTYPY

...,t article we gave some account OF the ex
,bich has been going on, for the last Six
. manufacturing town Of Massachusetts, OF
al the children of the town to read phonetic
:, introduction TO reading in ordinary type.
T'..,Sts Of thst experiment are, on the whole, de-
- t.vornbe 10 that mode Of introducing child
go, .oou.iotance with the printed English language.
of those who are Interested in the Phonotypic
o,,.rosr.p advocate the entire abandonment OF the
"a ..,hoo,,nbv. They would have newspapers and
-. ,r;,ted in stric y phonetic dress. For our
- "a never sympathized very deeply with their
-. rhs,e are several sound arguments in favor Of
.h.ona and INT few against it. The specious plea
% r. F,epcb, which has been republished in a.
..,v newspaper, tha. it would obscure etymoo-
ga. Is faIlscious. a phonetic dress OF language
.o,A reveal more sfiates than it would conceal.
Rat We object TO j. simpy as matter OF taste. we
s the present dress of the language because OF the
d.sr and hsllowed associations which link 1t, in every
cu,t rated mind with ali that is beautiful and holy IN
.ur literature IL is lot with US matter OF reasoning,
bv. oee Of feeling We have been in the daily habit
of reading ptonotypy, less for several years,
bs. VIC cannot yet enjoy reading in it. Nor proba-
bic that an adult man, Of anything like extended En-
uiss reading could ever make the phonetic dress 80
familiar 10 his eyes as not TO mar his enjoyment Of the
thought clothed in it
But this does not prevent our acknowledging Its
value a. means Of education. We have spoken OF
its uss for children; we would now call the readers
attention TO lie use for unletered adults II has been
shown by large classes and by solitary instances, that
Phesotypy advantageous to an adult as to child
- stepping TO the art Of reading. Cannot this
fact be turned TO advantage in the Of those mm
grants who, whether they speak English with
brogue or speak only German and other foreign Ian
guages, cannot reed our tongue. The Irishman know
ing our tongue but not being ableto read it, stands in
the matter of Phonotypy just where our own children
stand. He has the advantage Of knowing the Ian
Ruagsi that the sound and sense give him very rap
idly the power OF reading Phonoype and then makes
The tranlon to common print by aid Of the general
resemblance of the two types The German able to
rad bis own tongue has the disadvantage of not know
Ing the sound and sense Of words but he has the
advantage Of knowing how to combine letters into
words flor his own language has almost phonetic
drsss and of understanding the force of punctuation
ital;oisipg breaking into paragraphs, &c, &c His
intercourse with men speaking English will soon give
him an imperfect acquaintance with the sounds of the
language; but that viii be Of very little service in
teaching him 10 read book in Phonetic print
would very greatly accelerate his acquisition of good
pronunciation and very percepby facilitate his learn
ing TO read common type. For foreigners, book
with common characters one page, and tn. same
sentences in phonetic print the opposite page as
key, would he Of value.
Nor ia this Apgicsipg Of our immigrant population
m unimportant matter. Whatever tho dark-lantern
men may say or do, the foreign vote will always be
counted by demsgogues. aud large proportion of it
be thrown for the party that will condescend TO make
the most plausible false pretences. In rome of our
Atlantic cities the OF foreign birth, especially
those in vulgar style called Greeks, constitute 10
nearly majority that it is only their gorsnce that
psvents the saying of Marc from being fulfled'
Dsnai dominsmur In urss,
A. is demagogues rule through them. Thus also IN
Pennsylvania, dsmagogues have ruled her ana thelepy
ruled the Union, through the votes oil Germans VI
Dutchmen that could neither read The TRrBUSE nor
the Congressional Globe. II these men and the many
thousands Of the Northwest oould have our american
politics at first hand in own language, cannot be
doubted that they would much sooner make truswor-
thy and intelligent voters German papers are well
enough in their place but when We come to political
discussions it s absolutely impossible to put American
ideas into any other tongue than the English No two
musical melodies can express precisely the same shade
of fee,icg-no two equations in algebra can express
precisely the same truths of quantty-and no two
sentences of ordinary language can convey exactly the
samc ideas. The words Of the German language will
inevitably awaken in the Germans mind some Of the
associations of his Fathsrand and cannot therefore
give him precisely the right impression Of American
things. But it is asking too much to ask him to learn
Rpglish in the ordinary way. The difficulties OF doing
II are proverbia 1t is only by means of Phonotypy
that the of adult foreigners in our country can be
taught TO read orr language.
But how or whom shall Phonetic print be brought to
bear upon these foreigners Shall We organize now
missions to the Northwest and to Texas, to teach
Germans Phonotypy 1t would be useless task.
They would look upon it with suspicion as vagary Of
1t will not be likely to be used by inte-
gent foreigners used by the of the American
people In teaching hired men to read until it has been
tesed In more of common schools, and been estab-
lshed in all parts Of the country as THE BEST WAY OF
learning to read English. Let therefore every man
who desires America to be ruled by Americans, every
,nsa who winces under the thraldom of Democratic
Tyranny, every man who wishes to have intelligent
feenen rather than ignorant slaves Of psrty leaders
controls the results of our elections, do what he can
toward making schoolbooks printed in Phonotype ao-
cessbe and appreciated in all parts of the country
Our views of tie use of Phonetic type will explain
why in former article referred to the Cincinnati
publishers Ben Pittman ana Lopgley Brothers, rs-
ther than to New-York and Philadelphia publishers.
1t is not because of our preference of the Cincinnati
nlphabet-for we consider that, for the mere purpose
Of leaning to read every Of half dozen alpha
bets may be nearly equal in value-but because we
Judge that the Western alphabet has by far the best
chance Of becoming extensively known, and therefore
extensively useful.
NJ