Mohawk, or language of the Six Indian Nations, does not contain a single labial consonant. Dr. Jonathan Edwards, in his "Observations on the Language of the Muhhekaneen Indians," inserts the numerals (as far as ten) and the Paternoster in that of the Mohawk tribes, to which he adds:

"The reader will observe, that there is not a single labial, either in the numerals or Pater-noster of this language; and that, when they come to amen, from an aversion to shutting the lips, they change the m to w."

The dentals in our alphabet are t, d, c (soft), s, z,—j, g (soft), l, r, and n. The latter is also a nasal, the tongue pressing on the teeth, and causing the sound to issue through the nostrils. It will be observed that the soft c and g are merely duplicates of s and j. The ≈ is the soft s, as it is pronounced between two vowels, as in rose and zeal; and the soft c is the hissing s (SERPENT LETTER), as appears in cell and sell. S (as well as t in twine, twist, &c.) combines with the initial w in such words as swell and swim; and, when written in the aspirated form (sh), it has the power of s prefixed to the initial y: so shall and shape are pronounced as if written syall and syape. This sh is equivalent to the French ch, a compound character which we have adopted in bench, launch, &c. The German schw, compounded of s, y, and w, is heard in schwarm, a swarm; schwert, a sword; and many other words in that language. S prefixed to the diphthongal u is equivalent to sy, or to zy, according as it assumes the hissing or the soft sound. Sure and pleasure are examples.

Thej (as well as soft g) combines the sounds of dzy; for jest and gem are pronounced as if written dzyest and dzyem. The French j and soft g are less hard than ours, having the power of zy without the preceding d; so that a Frenchman would pronounce the forementioned words zyest and zyem. These sounds easily fall into that of the initial y, becoming yest and yem; and thus the dentals become connected with the vowels.

The German z is equivalent to the English ts; and consequently zimmer (a chamber) is pronounced tsimmer, and zin (tin) is tsinn. The old English ch might be expressed by tsy; for chair has the sound of tsyair, and child of tsyild. The French ch (sy) has been already mentioned. There is a third ch, the Greek x, used in words derived from that language, to which we have given the power of k; and a fourth ch is found among the Saxon, Scotch, and German gutturals: but it will be afterwards seen that all the four merge into one another. Of the double office of th we have already spoken, and shall have again to speak. The th, or aspirated t, gives no indication of either of those sounds. They are such as cannot be expressed by any conjunction of characters.

L and r are formed by similar appulses of the tongue, which, in the former, presses by its tip upon the upper gum; and, in the latter, just approaches so as

d

to produce a tremulous vibration. These letters were, in many cases, aspirated by the Saxons, who wrote hlaf, a loaf; hleap, a leap; hlid, a lid;-hracod, ragged; hrefn, a raven; hring, a ring, &c. The Greeks had also their aspirated r, the sign of which, without its power, we preserve by the letters rh, in rhapsody, rhetoric, rhyme, and other derivatives from that language. R has been called the canine, or Dog's LETTER, because, when forcibly sounded, it resembles the snarling of that animal. The strong aspiration of r associates it with the gutturals.

The palatals and gutturals are so nearly allied, that we might have treated them as if they were a single class. The k, hard c, and q, have exactly the same power; but the latter being always followed by u and another vowel, as already stated, it may be considered as the palatal, or hard diphthongal, pronunciation of what he is the guttural. X has a compound usage, sometimes equivalent to gs, and at other times to ks. The g, as in gone and got, is less hard thank, being formed farther back in the palate: behind this, the sounds are wholly guttural. The Greek ch has been already noticed.

Between h and g hard there have been interposed two guttural sounds, unknown to the modern English; but both of which were doubtless common to the Gothic and Anglo-Saxon, as they are to the modern Celtic and some of the Teutonic tongues. The first sound is merely a strong aspiration of h, with this difference, that, like every other consonant, it may terminate as well as begin a syllable. Were we to accent the h in the dissyllable aha, pronouncing it ah'a, in place of áha, we should have the sound in question. It is the German ch in lachen, sprechen, &c. and was simply h in the Saxon orthography, as is seen in briht, bright; frihtan, to frighten; and many other words. The second is the guttural g, as heard in the German lager, a camp; and seen in the Saxon aspirated g, in burhg, a burgh or city. Both these gutturals still exist in the Scotch dialect, though the distinction between them is not so well preserved as in the German. The gh, which, though now silent, still stands in so many words, bears ample testimony of its former power. It is the ghost of a departed guttural. The multitude of apparently useless letters which, on account of this and other causes, cover a great proportion of the page, gives a double feature to the English language: it is one thing to the eye, and another to the ear. The same sound is thus made to express different ideas, thereby generating a confusion which is not to be found in the cognate tongues. An example occurs to us in the words wright, write, right, and rite, each of which has preserved its originally separate pronunciation in the modern Scotch.

Of nasal sounds, the m and n have been already noticed. Their distinction is wholly between a less and a greater compression of vocalized air, when pass

ing through the nostrils, compared with the cavity of the mouth. In the common pronunciation of m, the cavity is extended to the lips, while in the n it is shut at the gums. Both these sounds, however, may be produced without changing the capacity of the cavity, by varying the aperture of the emission if both nostrils are open, the m is heard; and by shutting one we have the n. Το those who imagine that the characters of the first alphabet were shaped to the organs that produced them, it will not appear ridiculous to add, that the m and n have, respectively, some resemblance to the double and single nostril.

The French final m and n are often silent, serving only to give a slight nasal twang to the preceding vowel. In old French, the n was often followed by a g, which does not now appear: thus, besoin (need) was besoing; and loin (distant) was loing; perhaps akin to the adjective long, where the ng, though stronger, is still a simple sound. The English n, when followed by either of the palatals c, g, k, q, or x, as in ancle, bring, bank, conquer, and lynx, by adding their several powers, is harsher and more guttural than the present French nasal, or even the English ng. It was, probably, to mark a similar sound that the Greeks doubled the g, or prefixed it before the other palatal letters, for which the Latins, in latter times, substituted an n. Thus, aggelos became angelos, an angel; and agkyra became anchora, an anchor. By separating the n from the g, in forming the syllables of the former example, we have lost the guttural. The Gothic and Saxon followed, in this practice, the Greek and Latin; the Moso-Gothic gaggan and driggkan being the Anglo-Saxon gangan and drincan, to go and to drink.

In another ancient guttural, n or m followed the palatal letter, as we see it in many words of Gothic as well as of Greek extraction: as gnome, gnomon, phlegm, know, knave, reign, deign, &c. In all such words the palatal letter is now silent; but the Scotch still pronounce the initial gn and kn in a guttural manner; and the final gn as ng. Gawin Douglas, and other old authors, write ring for reign; and, in some counties, this is still the pronunciation. In compound words, these incorrigible conjoined letters are often separated, and thereby become vocal: thus, the g is lost in phlegm and sign, but is found again in phlegmatic and signify. Modern pronunciation is always very accommodating to the organs of the voice. We preserve certain patches of letters, which represent the characters of other times and of other tongues, solely to assist us in our derivations; but they are uttered or not, as best suits our convenience. For example, the Greek 0, 0, and 4, are expressed in Roman letters by th, ph, and ps; but the derivatives phthisical and psalter are pronounced tizzekal and sawltur.

It was impossible to prevent the preceding observations on the classification

of the consonants from becoming, in some degree, desultory. The advantages which might have been gained in systematic regularity would have been lost in the meagerness of the detail. We shall, therefore, collect the general outlines in a tabular form, for the purpose of convenient reference in what we have further to advance.

Organ.

Labials
Dentals

Palatals

Simple Sounds.

p, b, f, v, w,-m. ph (Greek).
t, th, d, th (soft), sc (soft).

z, y,―l, r, n. k, g (hard).

Composite Sounds.

Duplicates.

ch, ch (French), j, g (soft).

nc, nk, nq, nx.

c (hard), q, ch (Gr.) x. Gutturals---------- h, ch, gh,—ng, gn,

Nasals, being labial,

kn.

dental, and guttural m, n, and ng.

The binary and ternary combinations of consonants, such as bl, br, gl,—spr, str,—lm, rm,—rld, &c., in which we recognize the powers of the several letters, can be considered only as consonantal diphthongs and triphthongs; and we might, without irregularity, have included x, j, g (soft), and the dental as well as the French ch, in the same class; for we have seen that these also are compounds.

INTERCHANGE OF LETTERS.

In the comparison of kindred languages, all the characters in any one of the preceding classes, being formed by the same organs of speech, are reciprocally interchangeable, and seem as separate marks for a single sound. We have already seen that the vowels perpetually run into one another, that they belong to a county rather than to a nation,—and it is our present business to inquire how far this is the case with the consonants.

Among the labials, F, P, and V, are interchangeable in the English Father, the Greek and Latin Pater; the German Vater (pronounced Fater), and the Dutch Vader.

Purse is the German Boerse and the French Bourse; and appears again in English in Bursar, Disburse, &c.

The Saxon Berga is the Latin Porcus, a Pig.

Bishop is the German Bischof, the Swedish and Danish Biskop, and the Latin Episcopus: all referrible to the Greek compound episkopos, an overseer.

The Latin Nepos, a Nephew, is the Saxon Nefa and the French Neveu. Wind is the Danish Vinden, the French Vent, and the Latin Ventus; and Wine is the Latin Vinum and the French Vin; sounds which we have recognized in our derivatives Vinegar, Vintner, &c. The W, as we formerly mentioned, scarcely differs from the U or V, letters which in old English pass under the same character.

The German Voll is Full, Halb is Half, and eine Taube is a Dove; which the Scotch have further softened into Dow, with the pronunciation of doo.

In some parts of Scotland, all the pronouns in Wh are turned into F; the inhabitants, in their broad accent, using Faw, Faur, Faun, and Faut, for Who, Where, When, and What,-and Foo indifferently for How and Why.

The Latin Marmor becomes Marbre in French and Marble in English. With is Mid in Saxon and Mit in German: but the interchange between M and the other labials is more general in the Celtic than in the Teutonic tongues. In the Galic, or Erse, bh and mh (the aspirated b and m) equally mark the sound of v, for which there is no simple character. The grammarians, indeed, of that language remark a difference between the sounds of bh and mh, and tell us that the latter is more labial than the former, but the distinction is not readily caught by a Gothic ear.

An interchange of some of the dentals will be observed among the preceding examples; and to those we shall add the following:

To Draw is the Latin Trahere, the Dutch Trekken, and the German Ziehen. Thing and Thorn become Ding and Dorn in German, and Ting and Torn in the Danish and Swedish.

The English T is frequently changed into the German Z: thus, Tongue becomes Zunge, Ten is Zehn, Twig is Zweig, &c.

T into S, or the soft C, is general in all cognate dialects. The Saxon bletsian is to bless; better is the German besser, and water in the same language is wasser. In verbal additions, admit becomes admission; commit, commission; and, in old English, the sound syon was marked indifferently by either of the terminations cion or tion: discretion was often written discrecioun, and nation was nacioun. A few words, like ancient and antient, have still a double orthography, which it is endeavoured to distinguish by separate usages. The compound letter X takes its share in these transformations, as appears in the varied spellings, reflection and reflexion, connection and connexion, &c. some of which are now laid aside, and others have been limited to different applications.

The English iron is the Dutch yzer and the German eisen. The Saxons had both ways, isen and iren. The Dutch haas and German hase is a hare. This interchange between R and S, and also between R, L, and N, is particularly