Page:Proposals for a Uniform Missionary Alphabet.djvu/26



In some languages we find that certain vowels are modified by a following, or, as some say, by i. The vowels most liable to this modification are a, o, u.

The a, with an inherent e, becomes German ä, as in väter, very nearly the same sound as in the English substantive bear. O, by the same influence, takes the German sound of ö in König, or that of the French eu in peu. U, in German, becomes ü, the French u in jurer.

To many organs these sounds are so troublesome that they are sometimes avoided altogether, as in English. Their pronunciation varies in different dialects; and the German ä sounds in some places like e, the French ü like u.

If we remember how the simple vowel sounds could be represented in a mathematical progression according to the amount of aperture of the throat and lips required for their formation, we shall see that what takes place if an a is changed to ae, an o to oe, and an u to ue, is in each case a diminution of the guttural aperture. While the pure a is formed by 5 degrees of labial and 3 degrees of guttural aperture, the ae is produced by 5 degrees of labial, but only 1 degree of guttural aperture. Thus, in the pronunciation of oe, the labial aperture remains at 2 degrees, and in the pronunciation of ue at 1 degree; but in either case the guttural aperture is respectively reduced from 4 degrees and 5 degrees to 1 degree. We may, therefore, represent the broken vowels (Grimm's Umlaut) in the following manner:—

ae=V. 1; oe=II. 1; ue=I. 1.

There is one class of languages, the Tataric, where these broken sounds are of frequent occurrence, and of great importance. The "harmony of vowels" which pervades these dialects would be lost altogether (as it is, to a great extent, if Tataric languages are written with Arabic letters), unless a distinct category were assigned to these vowels. Besides the broken or softened a, o, and u, the Tataric languages have a fourth vowel, a softening of the i, which we hear in "will." Thus we have, in Yakute:

Hard vowels a, o, i, u. Heavy vowels a, ae, o, oe, ae, oe, ie, ue. u, ue.