The national Republican., 1867-02-07
INTERESTING LECTURE ON PHO.
NBTICS AND PHOTOGRAPHY.
ny M. A. Clancy, Esq.

AMI
ny NJ. A. Clancy, Esq.
Mr.. CLANCY delivered lecture on Phonetics and
Photography on Tuesday evening at Union League
Hall, introductory TO course Of lessons which he
intends giving in this city. The audience was not
large, but intelligent.
The lecturer commenced by referring to the gen.
sral state Of ignorance, even In this land Of schools
and education, Of the underlying principles and
practice Of q correct representation Of language
This ignorance was TO be attributed to the old
fogy spirit which opposes all innovations on the
existing order Of things, never stopping TO invss
gate whether they are improvements or not. Such
was the intimate connection between spoken and
written language that II was q matter Of wonder
that the science Of phonetics had not been sooner
elaborated, and II was q subject Of still greater
surprise that We should as a people, still 60 on
burdened with the disabilities and ineongruties Of
our present system Of writing and printing This
was to be accounted for partly from our general
apathy on the subject, and partly from the fact
that our methods Of education were admirably
adapted for teaching the names and forms Of the
letters which form written or printed words but
was wofuy deficient in giving us any exact knowi-
edge Of the sounds which enter into their compost.
tiou. Illustrations were given, in such words as
gay cat, dog, tcoHid, &c showing that the sounds
Of the letters, heard in ,peing The tcords, were
with q small modicum Of exception, entirely diff.
ferent from those which were heard In the words as
actually pronounced.
It was shown that In the words though, through,
thought, hieooHgh, phtli,ie, there were seventeen
sounds, which we're represented by thirty.six let
l. ~ IL l.. 1.
sounded In the pronounced rords. While such
words these illustrate the absurdity Of what Is
called orthography, they MOTTO be taken as the
only examples. Such Is the utterly irregular
method In which our words are spelled that child
or a foreigner Is compelled, by . sheer effort Of
memory, and as a distinct lesson, to acquire every
,cord and syllable ~ our language. The present
English letters and combinations Of letters used to
represent simple sounds have collectively, no less
than the enormous number Of fee hundred and
ftly.three different values, and the forty simple
sounds Of our language are represented by upwards
Of three hundred aud ffy different agng and com.
biRaiions Of signs. A foreigner who had never
seen the word scissors might write II in any one Of
one vriH ion seUen hundred and Joytv:fVs thousand
tiro hundred aud twenty-five different modes, and
In every case hnd authority in other words Of the
language to justify him for his Of each letter or
combination. Some Of these combinations were
amazingly sxtravagant; for instance schissourrles
justified by the eorrelative sounds in the words
schism, sieve, as, honour. myrrhi sacrifice. Yet
this the system Of spelling still taught in our
common schools, and which we compelled our chill
dren to learn with years Of labor and mental an
guish.
Amer glancng at the obscure origin Of the alpha.
bot and the transition from the old herogiyphic to
the modern phonetic system Of representing Ian
guage the lecturer illustrated the distinctive DIFF
ference between the ordinary and the phonetic
spelling. 1t is'a little difficult to give correct
idea, by Of ordinary types Of this difference
II may be stated, In general terms, however, that
the words used as illustrations were analysed into
their component simple sounds and these sounds
named simpiy or phOnstieaiiy, instead Of being
called by their ordinary aLpha5efie names II was
shown for instance, that in the letter D as pro-
nouneed there were two sounds, the frst being the
initial sound in the word boy, and the second the
initial sound in the word sat Other examples were
cited tending to show the compound nature Of our
alphabetic consouant ntters, and the conclusion
therefrOm was, that in true phonetic system the
simple elements Of speech should be represented by
simple clements Of representation.
The argument that our present orthography
should be retained on account of its chronological
value was humorously but quite thoroughly ex.
ploded by instituting a comparison between the
spelling of the words of to-day and the same words
rs spelled Eve hundred years ago. The old form Of
tho words run, years. pisn, give, &s., yronns,
ghseru, rVhdme, ghyMs, respectively. It was con-
tended that the modern spelling concealed the ETY..
mOOgies as thoroughly as pure phonetic spelling
possibly could.
Due honor was given to ISAAC PITMAx for the
inestimable benefits which he had conferred upon
humanity in bringing to light the subtle and won.
derfuy beautiful relations existing among the ee.
ments Of Speech and for the persstency and energy
with which he and his brothers, both in England
and this country, had pushed the phonetic reform.
With tho aid Of Photographic chart Of the elc.
mcntary sounds the nature and relations of the
simple sounds Of language were rendered clear and
ntelgiblei but we are unable, without the assist.
ance Of diagrams, to give any just or even approx
matey correct idea of this portion of the lecture
which was able and interesting.
Mr.. CLANCY announced, at the close, his inten
tiOn to form classes for instruction in photography
and invited such rs were interested to Join. II,
deserves success, and We hope he will secure it.
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