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 problems involving the spoken word, that which relates to its sound and flux can be understood only through a knowledge of the laws which produce the synthetic result of these sounds.

That is not all. There are many other subtleties and little-regarded relations of the spoken word. Professor de Saussure’s researches (better shown in his lectures than was possible in the already mentioned post-humous book) are the most comprehensive and exhaustive exposition of this subject thus far attempted with success. He shows, for instance, the differences which characterize the sounds of doubled consonants, as illustrated by the double p in appa,—the first p corresponding to a “fermeture,” the second to an “ouverture”; he follows the same principle with occlusives, applying it to the fricatives also, as in the double ƒ of aƒƒa; the same to the nasals, as in amma; to the liquids, as in alla; “et en général à tous les phonemes jusqu’ aux voyelles (aòóa, etc., sauf a).”