PART III.
SOUNDS, LETTERS, PRONUNCIATION, SPELLING.
CHAPTER I.
GENERAL NATURE AND CERTAIN PROPERTIES OF ARTICULATE SOUNDS.
[§ 105]. To two points connected with the subject of the following chapter, the attention of the reader is requested.
a. In the comparison of sounds the ear is liable to be misled by the eye. Thus—
The syllables ka and ga are similar syllables. The vowel is in each the same, and the consonant is but slightly different. Hence the words ka and ga are more allied to each other than the words ka and ba, ka and ta, &c., because the consonantal sounds of k and g are more allied than the consonantal sounds of k and b, k and t.
Comparing the syllables ga and ka, we see the affinity between the sounds, and we see it at the first glance. It lies on the surface, and strikes the ear at once.
It is, however, very evident that ways might be devised or might arise from accident, of concealing the