Page:Proposals for a Uniform Missionary Alphabet.djvu/38

 The lingual semi-vowel is r; if in some dialects the r is pronounced very near to the throat, this might be marked by an italic r, or rh.

The dental semi-vowel is written l. The mouillé sound of l may be expressed by an italic l.

Where the labial semi-vowel is formed by the lips, let it be written w. More usually it is formed by the upper lip and the edge of the lower teeth. It then becomes what the Hindus call a labio-dental semi-vowel, but it is hardly to be distinguished from the labial flatus lenis.

As the guttural flatus, or spiritus asper and lenis, can only occur before a vowel, the printer will find no difficulty in representing these two sounds by the usual signs and  placed before or over the vowel which follows. At the beginning of words there could be no reasonable objection to this mode of representing the very slight and hardly consonantal sound of the guttural flatus. But it will take some time before our eyes get accustomed to it in the middle of words. The Greeks did not mark it in the middle of words. They wrote, chariot, but , with beautiful chariots; they wrote , man, but , manliness. Nor does there seem to be any necessity for marking the spiritus lenis in the middle of words. Every vowel beginning a syllable has necessarily the spiritus lenis; as going, seeing. As to the spiritus asper, which we have in "vehement," "vehicle," I fear that "veement," "veicle," will be objected to by the printer. If so, we have still the italic h as a last resource to express the spiritus asper in the middle of words.

The dental flatus sibilans, pronounced sharp as in "sin" or "grass," has, of course, the best claims on the letter s as its representative. Its corresponding soft sound, written in English by z, should be written by s with the French cedille (the little zed) under it (ş). Where this type should be wanting, we should not be much the worse for expressing it by the spiritus lenis put under the s. The French cedille would remind us of the soft pronunciation of the s, and the spiritus lenis would not mislead us as to the real physiological value of the soft dental flatus. For missionary purposes the long would be preferable.

As all palatals are represented by italics, the palatal sibilant would