Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1904-09-16
A UNIVERSAL ALPHABET

We notice chat the Boston university
IN circular letter invites opinions
on the proposition to hold on inter-
natlona conference for the purpose OF
discussing the prlctlsabiiD o. adopting
universal alphabet
BY an means, Dot the conference be
held, Tor gathering Of that kind Will
result In good even Il the object aimed
AT is not Immediately attained A uni
versa alphabet would be link In the
chain that finally VIII bind humanity
together IN one brotherhood
The English language is more unfor-
turate than cognate tongues On lis all
phabei a perfect alphabet would con-
sIst Of a number Of letters correspond
Ing exactly to the number Of simple
sounds Of whicn the language Is made
up But there Is mo- such perfect al-
phabet and the English is both insult
hclent and redundant The spoken
language has at least forty-onc simple
sounds, and for these 1t has but twenty
six letters, two OF which are absolutely
useless for phonetic purposes. This is
the case, more or less with an Lam
guages, but ours Is really worse OF
than many others a reform of the nj.
phabet giving to each sound rs own
symbol would seem to be demanded by
an advanced civilization.
But the contemplated change ls not
easy Arbitrary signs would not at
first obtain general favor, Aphabets
arc the result OF growth. Of evolution
Just as language itself But even u
the nations should accept at the hands
Of scholars, an arbitrary set Of letters,
the difficulty would not be obviated.
Languages change, The pronunciation
Of words underg1es changes some
sounds are lost, being merged into
others, while others are more or lcss
modified. A set Of letters once agreed
upon would therefore have to De modl-
fed from time TO time
That the written signs, as we now
have them. are the result Of evolution
appears clear from what little Is known
about the origin OF our letters.
IN the first instance. man. striving 10
emerge from the unciyiizcd condition.
appears 10 have drawn pictures. for
the purpose of concentrating events.
or communicate thoughts. But the In
convenience OF picture writing soon
suggested the necessity of ahbreyatug.
and substituting for instance a sword
for an armed man nag for au Invade
Ing enemy a curved line tor ship. ana
so on. Such abbreyiations would. I'm
course of time, lose an resemblance
10 the objects they originally represent
ed. and become simply conventional
marks AS yet though, they are not
letters but signs They stand for
words. not sounds
The transition from sign writing to
letter writing is seen to have had lis
difficulties. The ancient Egyptian
scholars IL they wished to record
name of q man, for instance could
think Of no better devise than draw
ing in a given space Il number Of OBJ
jects the united letters OF which. when
pronounced, would give the sounds re-
CURED, as u we. TO write the word
Utah, would draw, In given space
Unicorn a Tree. an Ak and q Hoe,
This was q very inconycnlont mode Of
writing, but from Il was only a short
step to lotter-wrtlng. proper. At first
only sixteen letters We're conveyed
from Egypt 20 Greece. But this event
was hailed az the dawn Of an adj
yanced civilization in eastern Europe.
In the Semitic languages this grad.
ual process from emblematical signs Is
SIN apparent IN the alphabets The
letters Aleph. Beth, Gimel, Jod, etc.,
mean, respectively OK, house, camel,
hand and they were at first crude
ikenesses Of those animals and objects.
II is to be observed, too, that the
adoption Of letters dil not AN at once
supersede the picture writing. In
Egypt the latter was for centuries pre-.
tetred for religious, and other solemn
purposes. In fact the Egyptians at
one time found themselves using three