The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1858-11-25
For the Potter Journal.
Letters Om phOmetIcS.--S0,

letters an PhOmetICS.--H9, L.
GE. EDrToR.-Iproposew writing fcw letters
90 you on the subject of Phouetics, or more
fAniliarly known, as the Spelling ap4 Writing
Reform. Improvement marks the progress OF
HaAn in all ages Every year brings out some
aev iqvePtiQP, which shows concluSivelv that
We FEs : progressive people, and each deVel-
0pment bears testimony to the necessity af
eopS new attainment and achievmeqt that
shall tend to elevate man ia the scale IF being
and minister to his wants and desires
There is no department Of Science, and Art
4nd Doctrine, but what has been materially
improved or ct least fhdag,2 aud many times
f1r the 'cossf. Almost always, a rcformcr is
Stigmatizcd ~ IN idle ri1iondry, aud IA reform
BA 2y1rtGg. but to come to the subject
Ee are about to speak of reform in relation
80 our present mode Of Spelling and Writing
This idea NAV strike the casual reader, and
the skeptic as exceedingly nonsen seal but
before We take final leave Of the subject We
hope 10 be able to make it appear qnite plain
ioat some reform in this matter is called for
The first kind qf Yriti1E known to man,
Pas that called the iArograPhic; which was of
two kinds: First. by the representation OF the
pbjeets Of thought; for instance. to make it
undesstood that one man had killed another.
they drew the figure OF dead man stretched
upon the ground, and another standing over
him with some deadly weapon in his hand.
When the Spaniards Landed in Mexico. the in
haoitlnts conveyed the intelligence to Nom
HeEuma, by sending him large piece of cloth
On which was painted what they had seen.
Any one can see the great difficulty in conmu-
n eating thoughts in this manner, so recourse
NAs bad to the second style of ideographio
writing called the Iymbohc, or ,mbi,a,1tjc, In
tAis method abbreviat ons or characteristic
parts Of the object, were introduced. Thu.
the Egyptians represented q siege BY a scaling
ladder; battle ty two hands holding buck
Jar sBd bow Abstract objects in the came
way grdtit'dc by viper; Proridence BY the
Wye, &c.
The second kind of writing was the sYLLAGIC
g. character for a syllable thus the word
r,Put'ic, would be represented by three chArac-
tsrs because there are only three syllrbles in it,
The number of characters in such a mode OF
writing must be very great, overwhelming the
memory, and occasioning great confuse
The Chinese language j. IN instance of th,
kind of writing:
The third kind of writing is the Alphabetic,
now psed hy u', and is the Grcate;t achiev-
Fnent yet attained by man, and has been the
great instrument Qfhis civilization The prin-
ciple al this kind Of writing is this, " To ana
iyEe the sounds Of speech into their simple
elements, to inventa sign which shall accurate
~ represent the sounds resulting from the vo-
cal combination of the elements" Let the
reader carefully notice this PrincYis Of alpha
bette writing.
We will 4qt trouble the reader nor cucumber
these columns with historic account Of the
progress and changes Of AlBhabetic writing
since its discovery BY GadRus. We shall in
sidently refer to some of these fact, 81 pdssdnt
1t is unnecessary at this time, fqr the attain
meut of our object, to trace the changes that
have been made in our spelling, but will take
our alphabet as it now is, and cur orthography
q, il exists to-day. We have gu alphabet of
2s 1etters, arranged in an uNpEILoS OPTICAL
xAySEE; but this point we will not dwell up
on. Three Of these letter. are useless. or have
no distiuct sounds appropriated to them
which are c., 4. and x.--c. always standing fqri
o. and k, q. for X. or ku., and L. for Z. or Ks.
sounds already provided for. Our language
hss q SOUNDS, aud VIC see we have AcrcALLY
only % effective letters, leaving 20 sounds un-
crowded for. What is done? A resort is had
TO using the same letter and combinations OF
letters to represent several sounds. Ii som-
,birstions were used only to supply the exist
ing deficiency Of 90 letters the thing would
.aot be CO bad, and we should not raise voice
Of complaiEt5 but how is it? Every letter in
the alphabet (sASe oue) IS used TO represent
ro saygS at qH (cal]ed stl>nt ietterSl the sam,
f,t9,, il .9ftef vss4 10 represent many diFtrent
soupSs, 5pS many d,fcr"nt letters and combina-
sorL, o( i.tt;rs are used TO represent the mme
sound. Now, when the pupil has learned our
a!rhabst, is he prepared to readF lie ought to
be. II our alphabet does not violate che true
qipAab.tic Trincip,e be viii he. In oar next we
shall notice sope of these violations.
PHoHo.
The Comm>rcjaL .S,h0oi, which we be-
a 4. y