8. What is said of the Latin-the French-the English, in respect to a universal language?

9. Can you mention what passed between GIBBON and HUME?

10. What reasons have you for the opinion that the English will be the universal language?

11. Describe the prospects of the English language.

EXERCISES UNDER PART I.

HISTORICAL ANALYSIS.

§ 107. BY HISTORICAL ANALYSIS is meant that process by which each word in a sentence is referred to the particular language from which it was historically derived. In order to do this, the fourth part of this work can be consulted, and also an etymological dictionary.

EXAMPLES.

1. Happiness is like the statue of Isis, whose veil no mortal ever raised.-LANDON.

Statue and mortal are from the Latin; Isis from the Greek; all the other words are from the Anglo-Saxon.

2.

High on a throne of royal state, which far
Outshone the wealth of Ormus or of Ind,

Or where the gorgeous East, with richest hand,
Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold,
Satan exalted sat, by merit raised

To that bad eminence.-MILTON.

State, exalted, eminence, and merit, are from the Latin; throne, richest, and royal, from the Norman-French; barbaric, Ormus, and Ind, from the Greek; Satan, from the Hebrew; the remainder from the Anglo-Saxon.

3. From what languages do the following groups of words come?

a. Cromlech, bard, pibroch, clan, bran, mop, button?

b. Province, funeral, liberty, college, firmament,ruminate? c. Hand, thousand, full, wealth, hills, valleys?

d. Whitby, tarn, Codale, Milthorp, hose?

e. Conquest, castle, venison, pork, feasts, beauty, mountains? f. Idol, episcopacy, diamond, magic, melody, monarch?

g. Ennui, savant, carte-blanche, façade, eclat, depôt? h. Cortes, embargo, Don? i. Adagio, allegro, macaroni? j. Czar, ukase? k. Pagoda, bazar? 1. Amber, camphor? m. Shaster, Veda? n. Chop, hong? o. Gnu, koba? p. Bamboo, gong? q. Tattoo, tabu? r. Cariboo, racoon? ANALYZE the following sentences:

4. He is well versed in the principles or rudiments of the language, and is principally indebted for this to his erudite preceptor.

5. I was yesterday, about sunset, walking in the open fields till the night fell insensibly upon me. I at first amused myself with all the richness and variety of colors which appeared in the western parts of the heavens.-ADDISON.

6. The beauties of her person and graces of her air combined to make her the most amiable of women, and the charms of her address and conversation aided the impression which her lovely figure made on the hearts of all beholders.-HUME.

7. In the second century of the Christian era, the empire of Rome comprehended the fairest part of the earth and the most civilized portion of mankind.-GIBBON.

SYNTHESIS.

1. Compose a sentence consisting of words derived from the Anglo-Saxon.

2. Compose a sentence consisting of words derived from the Anglo-Norman words.

3. Compose a sentence in which there shall be at least one word derived from the Celtic.

4. Compose a sentence in which there shall be at least one word derived from the Danish.

5. Compose a sentence in which there shall be at least one word derived from the Spanish; and another in which there shall be at least one word derived from the Italian; and another in which there shall be at least one word derived from the Chinese; and so on of the other languages.

Having exhibited the Historical Elements in this First Part, we are prepared, in the Second Part, to enter into the interior of the language, and to learn of what matter it is composed.

PART IL

PHONETIC ELEMENTS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

CHAPTER I.

SEPARATE PHONETIC ELEMENTS.

DEFINITIONS.

§ 108. PHONOLOGY, from the Greek øvý, sound, and λóyos, account, is, in the widest sense, the doctrine or science of sounds. In a limited and proper sense, it is the doctrine or science of the sounds uttered by the human voice in speech. The phonology of the English language, then, is the doctrine of the sounds in the spoken language.

The PHONETIC ELEMENTS of the English language are those elementary sounds in the spoken language which it is the province of phonology to exhibit, both separately and in combination.

These elements are the matter, or the raw material of the language, from which its numerous and expressive combinations are formed. Every word in the language is composed of some of these elements. They should be constantly considered as coming from the producing tongue into the receiving ear, and not be confounded with the letters, their symbols, on the printed page. They are, in the present work, treated in relation to the correct articulation and enunciation of individual words. To eloquence and to music they have a separate relationship, which it is the office of the elocutionist and the music-master to unfold.

§ 109. The sounds which constitute language are formed by air issuing from the lungs, modified in its passage through the throat and mouth by the organs of speech, at the will of the speaker.

The tones of the human voice are produced by two membranes called the vocal ligaments. These are set in motion by a stream of

air gushing from the lungs. The windpipe is contracted near the mouth by a projecting mass of muscles called the glottis. The edges of the glottis are membranes, and form the vocal ligaments. Ordinarily, these membranous edges are inclined from each other, and, consequently, no vibrations take place during the passage of the breath; but, by the aid of certain muscles, we can place them parallel to each other, when they immediately vibrate and produce a tone. With the aid of other muscles we can increase their tension, and thereby the sharpness of the tone; and by driving the air more forcibly from the lungs, we may increase its loudness. The tone thus formed is modified by the cavities of the throat, nose, and mouth. These modifications form the first elements of articulate language. They are produced, not by the lungs or the windpipe, but by the glottis, the palate, the tongue, the teeth, the lips, which are called the ORGANS OF SPEECH. As the tongue is the principal organ in changing the cavities which modify the tone, it has given its name to speech, both in the Anglo-Saxon and the Latin, and many other languages.

CLASSIFICATION OF THE PHONETIC ELEMENTS.

§ 110. In the spoken language, the phonetic elements are divided into two classes: I. VOCALIC or VOWEL SOUNDS. II. CONSONANTAL or CONSONANT SOUNDS.

VOCALIC OR VOWEL SOUNDS.

§ 111. VOCALIC SOUNDS are those which can be formed without bringing any parts of the mouth into contact to interrupt the stream of air from the lungs.

Thus the sound of a or o can be pronounced with the mouth partially open, and the breath in one continuous current. The word vowel is from the Latin word vocalis, vocal, through the French voyelle. It means what can be sounded or form voice by itself. Some ambiguity is connected with the use of the word, inasmuch as it not only denotes a sound, but also the letter which represents the sound. In this chapter it is used to denote the sound, and not the letter.

It has been found that the note of a common organ may take the qualities of all the vowel sounds in succession. This is effected merely by lengthening the tube which confines the vibrations. It would seem, therefore, that the peculiar character of the different vowel sounds depends on the length of the cavity which modifies the voice. In pronouncing the a in father, the cavity seems barely,