before the great analyst revealed it. In vindication of the justness of these remarks on the expansiveness of great intellects, and on the poetic power which almost invariably is, at the least, latent within them, we cannot refrain from quoting the following sonnet, written by a great Astronomer, on the occasion of a visit to Ely Cathedral, in company with Sir William Hamilton: Sunday, July 29, 1845. The organ's swell was hushed,-but soft and low Plunging anon into the fathomless sea Of thought, he dived where rarer treasures grow, Oh! born for either sphere, whose soul can thrill Or wield the sceptre of the sage at will, 7 (That mighty mace which bursts its way to light), This memoir would be incomplete if we did not add, that our deceased member, together with the character of a scholar, a poet, a metaphysician, and a great analyst, combined that of a kindhearted, simple-minded Christian gentleman; we say the latter because Sir William Hamilton was too sincere a man ever to disguise, though too diffident to obtrude, his profound conviction of the truth of revealed religion. Endued with such qualities as these, what wonder, if of his friends he was almost the idol, and of his university the pride; for he was gentle, and he was eloquent, and he spoke evil of no man, he defended the fair fame of the absent, and he held controversy with none. Such then is an imperfect but unexaggerated sketch of this remarkable man. We will only add, that happily he did not live to survive himself, but in full possession of his faculties, almost in the very presence of the friends who had long admired him; and, what was no new thing to him, supported by the convictions and consolations of his faith, he resigned himself to his rest, as one who knew that he had done a work which had been given him to do. C. P. 8 7 The symbolic analysis of which the eminent and excellent individual (Sir W. R.H.) supposed to be addressed, has proved himself a most consummate master.-(Essays by Sir John Herschel.) In the preparation of this éloge, the writer has received much assistance from Dean Graves, P.R.I.A.; the Rev. R. P. Graves, of Dublin; and Professors De Morgan and Cayley. ART. XLII.-The Vowel Elements in Speech; by SAMUEL PORTER, of Hartford, Conn. [Concluded from page 189.] THERE are certain modes of action of the organs in vowel utterance, which are to be noticed as the ground of some important properties and relations. It is observable that the open vowels (deg. 3), it, end, at, up, &c., tend, in general, to a quick, abrupt, explosive utterance, the i, é, e, a, and ö especially, and the others more or less,-except the a group, in which the same is true of the close vowel: they can be prolonged only by a considerable and rather unnatural effort, and then with abated force and a tendency to unsteadiness. The reason, as I conceive, is that they are formed by a neutral position of the tongue, neither drawn up toward the palate nor depressed from it: a position into which the tongue can be quickly thrown or jerked,-like thrusting an arm straight out from the body,-with firmness enough to serve for the instant for a strong vowel utterance. The reason holds peculiarly in the five anterior groups, in which the effect is most marked, and as for the close a, its relationship to the open ä by similar position of the tongue has been already noticed. As a matter of fact, one of these vowels is never lengthened without changing quality and becoming really another vowel: usually, either falling into the open-depressed degree,-as in the French tête, fête, from Latin testa, festa,-or sliding to a group just behind and to a closer degree, as the prolongation of met may naturally give us mére, care. In the latter case, the tongue rises just back of the terminus of the vowel-tube and thus establishes a new terminus; in either case, the operation is perfectly natural on mechanical and physiological principles. The vowel in tête, &c., is unquestionably such as to be accounted for by one or the other of these processes; and the like is true of près, accès, &c. The middle and close vowels, on the other hand, are incapable of the same abrupt, explosive quality; and, when prolonged, usually tend to become more close, or, when at the closest, to move forward into a contiguous or otherwise related vowel of another group. These effects, again, we ascribe to the peculiar mode of action of the tongue, as, after coming into line for the group, it has to be raised to the proper degree of closeness: it is like raising the arm a little way after extending it. This motion cannot well be suddenly and firmly arrested so as to produce an abrupt or explosive utterance. It is also more natural to continue this motion than to hold it arrested so as to prolong the vowel unchanged. Obviously, also, the effect of continuing the impulse, after reaching the closest degree, would be to raise, or bend up, the tongue at a point further forward, and so to carry the vowel into another group. The middle may, however, sometimes take the course of the open degree, and move a step backward in becoming more close when prolonged. The tendency of the open-depressed vowels, when prolonged, is, for like reasons, in the opposite direction: they incline to greater openness, so far as possible, or else to a backward movement. Thus, self, ten, &c. drawled into the open-depressed degree, incline to the ä if still further prolonged. It is to be remarked, that the turn taken by vowels under change of quantity will be much influenced by the character of consonants succeeding. These physiological actions and tendencies are important in their bearing upon vowel change in etymology, and as explaining the rationale of diphthongs and all compound vowel sounds. This will presently be illustrated by examples. There are relations of easy transition between vowels of different groups, fundamentally important as concerns the same matters just mentioned. These relations are not wholly determined by local position in the scale and on the diagram. It is in this as in geography. Localities contiguous on the map may, we know, be separated by impassable mountains, and others widely distant be in virtual proximity as united by channels of easy communication. Along with our map of the places of articulation, we need to take into view all the circumstances on which the relations among the several vowels depend. A number of different series may be made out, founded on relations of easy transition. I will just indicate the most important, in a necessarily somewhat indefinite way, and merely in order to show that the principles I have laid down are the true physiological ground of established facts in the history of word-transformation. A full development of the application of the system would require that the original explorer should take it along with him into the field of philological research. The two series, a, ä, e, é, i, and â, å, o, u, are of primary importance in philology. The a, i, and u are the primitive vowels of the Sanskrit and of the old Gothic, out of which the e and o were next developed, the ä and d, as well as the é, not yet having a distinctly recognized separate existence. As founded on the order and manner of development in the Indo-European languages, and the like appears, in fact, in the Semitic tongues, -we have the scheme of Jacob Grimm, with a at the apex of a triangle, i and u at the lower angles, and e and o respectively intermediate on the two sides. That is, we have the two series a, e, i and a, o, u. Physiologically, the first series moves forward on the line of the tongue, from the common point of de parture a,-through the relationship before pointed out between the a and a groups; the other moves upward along the velum palati,-the position of the organs for u marking it plainly the natural terminus of a series. The first we may call the lingual, and the other the back-palatal, or the guttural, series. The vowels of the lingual series are also allied by the general direction of the vocal current forward, while in å, o and u it is upward;the position of the tongue for this effect may be observed to influence the lower jaw: tending to protrusion in at least ȧ, o and u, and to retraction in at least a and ä. The plausible and commonly accepted scheme which regards these two series as determined by the less and less palatal opening from a to i and the less and less labial opening from a to u, fails to suit the facts as they present themselves under accurate observation. Other lines of vowel transition diverge from the guttural series forwards toward i. Thus, the open a, o and u are so related to the open ö by proximity and the direction of the vocal current as to run readily into that. The middle and close ö are so related to the ä on similar grounds; the same ö vowels, as falling between a middle or close o and an i or an e, make the German ö of the umlaut; and, by a similar process, we have the ö vowels in the French eu from an original e+u. The connection is intimate between all degrees of the u with the -the tongue being so placed for the u that, by raising the fore-part, it readily comes into position for the i. A similar operation takes place between a and i in the Eng. oi diphthong, and between several different vowels (o the proper one) and i, in the various ways of pronouncing the Eng. "long i." From the open vowels generally to the high position of the back tongue which forms the close or middle u, the transition is easy, at least in diphthongal combination, as will presently be exemplified. There is a special ground of transition between i and u in the similar positions of the soft-palate. We are now prepared to consider the laws to which diphthongal combinations are subject; but I will first enumerate the principal pure diphthongs that are possible. They are: 1. a+i:"-Eng. only in the word ay, or aye, or sometimes heard in Isaiah, Sinai, &c., and in the long i, wrongfully. 2. i-toil, boy; North of England long i. 14 Instead of i non-labial as the final element, we may have, in each case, the labial (Ger. ü, Fr. u). Dr. C. L. Merkel resolves the German diphthong äu (Häuser, Mäuse) and eu (Feuer, Eule) into a+ü. His Physiologie der menschlichen Sprache (Leipsic, 1866, pp. 444) is an able and exhaustive treatise,-the author a thorough anatomist, and a careful and minutely exact as well as original investigator. Helmholtz and Brücke undergo the ordeal of sound and searching criticism at his hands. 3. 4+2 (or, with the "glide," öö3+i2):-long i, as high, pine, &c., the Scotch long i is ö3+2, or ö2+i2. 4. ä+i:-an affected pronunciation of long i. 5. ei:-"long a" (ale) with the vanish. 6. atu-improperly in our, &c. 7. a+u-another wroug form of our, &c. 8. ou:-"long o" (old) with the vanish. 9. ö4u21 (with the glide, ö+u3+u2):-our, now, &c.;-the Scotch our, &c., are ö31+u21. 10. ä3, or ä1, tu (with glide, ä+ö+u):-Yankee our, now, &c. 11. ea, or e3, +u (with ö glide): ancient pronunciation of few, dew, &c.; one form of Yankee new, rude, smooth, &c. 12. i4u (with o glide):-extreme form of Yankee new, rude, smooth, do, &c. 13. eta: Qu., A.-S. deaf, cealf, &c.? 14. eo:-Qu., A.-S. seofon, heofon, seolf, &c.? 15. ut or usu1:-rude, tube, lute, suit, new, dew, &c. The relative quantity of the initial and final elements is not alike in all these; but is usually greater in the initial. Where I have omitted to mark the degree, there is more or less latitude of variation. The fundamental law of the pure diphthongs is, that the combination be such that the tongue can be, and is, kept continuously tense in passing from the initial to the final element, and the lips in like manner in the case of labials. Accordingly, the movement is more usually in a forward direction, and may be at the same time from open to close; -simply from open to close in the same group, though common enough, is not usually regarded as a diphthong, though I have included one such (No. 15) in the list above; indeed, combinations from two adjoining groups have not always been reckoned as diphthongs,-the usual English long a and long o, for example. A movement which requires a relaxation of the tongue or lips in passing froin one element to the other will interrupt the continuity of the vowel sound, and necessitate either a hiatus, or the intervention of a y or w consonant, making in the latter case an impure diphthong. Thus, d+i (toil) is a forward movement, and gives continuous vowel sound; but the reverse, i+d, almost necessarily introduces a y sound, heard as in yawl (i+y+d). So we have i+y+a in yard, and in the Italian piano, fiamma, &c.; i+y+ö in young, million, billiard, &c.; i+y+u in union, mute, &c. A rearward movement can give a pure diphthong only when the first element, if not both, is quite open; as in Nos. 9 to 14 of the foregoing table. A continuous movement from close to open on the lips always introduces a consonantal w, as in the French 15 A term used by phonetists, and denoting, strictly, the whole series intermediate, as the voice passes gradually from one position of the organs to another. |