in comparing the manners of the English and French, may not be the
true one; but it appears rational. Other causes also have a material
influence upon eloquence, particularly the form of government and the
state of society. In these respects England and France may not be so
favorable to the cultivation of oratory, as were the republics of
Greece and Rome. But if a free government is the best soil for the
growth of eloquence, why should it flourish in France rather than in
England, which is said to be the fact with respect to pulpit eloquence?
The genius of the nation may have its effect; but it is presumed, the
state of the language may be considered as an auxiliary cause, if not a
principal.
From the foregoing history of the language, we learn the causes of its
incorrect orthography. The Saxon characters, some of which were Roman,
both in shape and power, while others were peculiar to the language,
continued in use till the fourteenth century. These were afterwards
laid aside for the Old English characters, as they are usually called;
which were introduced with the art of printing from Germany,[31] and
continued in use, till within a century. But both the Saxon and German
letters were much inferior to the Roman in the simplicity and elegance
of their form; for which reason most of the European nations have
rejected their primitive characters and adopted the Roman.[32]
In changing the characters of an alphabet, as well as in expressing
the sounds of one language by letters of an other, some difficulty
will often arise from the want of a perfect correspondence between
the true sounds of letters in both. Altho there is, and must be, a
great uniformity in the articulate sounds of all men, yet there are
also differences peculiar to each nation, which others have not proper
characters to express.
Thus the Romans, when they would express the sound of the Greek ~th~
and of ~ch~, for want of suitable characters, wrote _th_ and _ch_. We
conclude from this circumstance, that the Greek sound of the former was
that of _t_ followed by an aspirate, and the latter, that of _k_ with
an aspirate. Yet it is very probable that the sounds were guttural in
Greek, and not exactly represented by the Latin combinations _th_ and
_ch_.
Thus two Saxon characters are represented in modern English, by the
Latin combination _th_, as in _think_, _thou_. These Saxon characters
were single letters and had distinct powers. We preserve the
distinction of sounds to this day, but are subject to the inconvenience
of having no mark by which the eye can discern that distinction.
On the other hand, _sh_ was usually written by the Saxons _sc_,
as _sceaft_, shaft; _sceam_, shame; _sceal_, shall. What was the
pronunciation of _sc_ cannot be determined; but it is evident that each
letter had a distinct sound. It is most probable that before _a_, _o_,
and _u_, _sc_ were pronounced _sk_, or _c_ might have had the force
of _ch_ in _choose_. It is very clear that _c_ had this sound before
_e_ and _i_; for the Saxon words in which _ch_ now precede _e_ or _i_,
were formerly spelt with _c_ only; as _child_ from the Saxon _cild_;
_chill_ from _cele_; _chink_ from _cinnon_, to gape; _chick_ from
_cicen_. If therefore _c_ before _e_ and _i_ had the force of _ch_,
_sceaft_ must have been pronounced _scheaft_, which would easily be
softened down and contracted into _shaft_.
But whatever was the sound of _sc_ in the Saxon, the sound derived
from it is now simple, and has no single character to represent it in
our language; for the proper sounds of _s_ and _h_ combined, do not
form the sound which we invariably annex to _sh_. By not retaining the
primitive Saxon _c_ after _s_, we have probably lost the pronunciation
and introduced an irregularity.
It is not certain however that a change of the alphabet was prior to
the change of pronunciation; for the latter might have produced the
former. But the effect is certain; we have a simple sound without a
proper character, which is always an imperfection.[33]
We have therefore in English the two sounds of _th_, the aspirate in
_think_, and the vocal in _this_, both of which are simple consonant
sounds, peculiar to the language, and derived from two _single_
characters. Each ought still to be represented by a distinct single
letter. _Sh_, on the other hand, express a simple sound, derived from
_two_ separate Saxon consonants, which must have been originally
pronounced as two letters. These irregularities must have been partly
owing to a change of alphabet.[34]
Other irregularities have been occasioned by an injudicious application
of the letters of one alphabet to the sounds of another language.
The Roman _c_ some writers suppose was hard, like _k_, before all the
vowels and diphthongs. It certainly was so before all except _e_ and
_i_; where, there is reason to suppose, it had the sound of _ch_ or
_ts_. It is very evident that it had not the sound of _s_, which we now
annex to it in _civil_, _cellar_. When the Roman alphabet, therefore,
took place of the primitive English characters, the Greek _k_ should
have been always written before _a_, _o_, _u_, as in _cat_, _cord_,
_cup_; and _s_ before _e_ and _i_. Or _c_ should have been called _ke_,
limited to one sound, and always used instead of _k_. If our ancestors
had retained the Roman pronunciation of _c_ before _e_ and _i_, they
would probably have spelt _cera_, _civilis_, _chera_, _chivilis_,[35]
_ch_ having its English sound of _tsh_, as in _charm_. But if they
pronounced these words as we do, they should have substituted _s_,
_sera_, _sivilis_. In short, they should have limited every character
to one sound; in which case, one of the three letters, _c_, _k_, _s_,
would have been entirely omitted as useless. This would have delivered
us from a large class of difficulties.
Whether the _ph_ and _ch_, in Greek derivatives, were originally
introduced into English, because our ancestors preserved the aspirate;
or whether the _h_ was retained merely to show the etymology of
words, it is not easy to decide. The probability is, that these
letters were never aspirated in English, but that _ph_ has ever been
pronounced _f_, and _ch_ generally _k_; as in _Philip_, _chorus_. It
is probable however that the Romans, from whom the English borrowed
their characters, preserved the aspirate; for they very scrupulously
retained the _h_ after _p_ and _c_; and they attempted to copy exactly
the Greek pronunciation.[36] They borrowed all words in _ph_, _ch_
and _th_ from the Greeks. We have preserved the characters, but have
mostly lost the aspirate; _ph_ has invariably the sound of _f_; _ch_,
in Greek derivatives, generally that of _k_; and _th_ has become
the representative of two simple consonants. With this change of
pronunciation, the orthography should have changed; _philosophy_ should
now be written _filosofy_; and _chorus_, _korus_; _th_ might become a
single character and be called _Eth_.[F]
But it was the fate of our language to be shaken by violent
revolutions, and abandoned to accident or the caprice of unskillful
heads. The operation of imperceptible causes, common to all languages,
in all ages, has also been gradually changing the spelling and
pronunciation.
In Chaucer's time, the infinitive mode and plural number of verbs, in
the present tense, ended often in _en_; as _loven_, for _to love_ or
_they love_. But _loveth_ was sometimes used in the plural, and _n_
began to be omitted in the infinitive. The French termination _esse_,
as in _Goddesse_, _richesse_, was used, and the final _e_ was often
pronounced. The plural number of nouns usually ended in _es_, as
_houndes_; and in the same manner terminated the genitive case. Nouns
now ending in _y_, ended then in _ie_, as _storie_; _y_ was still
prefixed to participles, as _ybent_; and _y_ was often used where we
now write _g_, as _yeve_ for _give_.
From that period the orthography was still varying, at least in some
particulars, till the beginning of the present century. The group of
eminent writers who were cotemporary with Swift, gave great stability
to the spelling; yet some good authorities differ from them in several
points. Johnson, who has been usually followed by succeeding compilers
of dictionaries, preserves the _u_ in _honour_, _favour_, and similar
words; as also the final _k_ in _publick_, &c. Ash, followed by many
writers, very properly restores these words to the Roman spelling, by
omitting the _u_ and _k_. Excepting these particulars, the orthography
of our language is nearly fixed.
The pronunciation has been neglected till a few years ago; when
Sheridan and Kenrick, with several compilers of less note, attempted
to give us a standard. Unluckily they have all made the attempt on
false principles; and will, if followed, multiply the anomalies, which
already deform the language and embarrass the learner.[37]
The language, is composed of a variety of materials, and it requires
some labor to adjust the parts and reduce them to order.
To accomplish this purpose, we must search for such principles of
analogy as still exist in its construction, and make them the pillars
of a regular system. Where such principles cannot be found, let us
examin the opinions of the learned, and the practice of the nations
which speak the pure English, that we may determine by the weight of
authority, the _common law_ of language, those questions which do not
come within any established rules.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
FOOTNOTES:
[2] Even supposing that a number of republics, kingdoms or empires,
should within a century arise and divide this vast territory; still
the subjects of all will speak the same language, and the consequence
of this uniformity will be an intimacy of social intercourse hitherto
unknown, and a boundless diffusion of knowlege.
[3] This disposition is taken notice of by Dr. Blair, Lect. 8. Where he
observes, "that tho the formation of abstract or general conceptions is
supposed to be a difficult operation of the mind, yet such conceptions
must have entered into the first formation of languages"--"this
invention of abstract terms requires no great exertion of metaphysical
capacity"--"Men are _naturally_ inclined to call all those objects
which resemble each other by one common name--We may daily observe
this practised by children, in their first attempts towards acquiring
language."
I cannot, with this great critic, call the process by which _similar_
objects acquire the _same_ name, an act of _abstraction_, or the
name an _abstract term_. Logical distinctions may lead us astray.
There is in the mind an _instinctive disposition_, or _principle of
association_, which will account for all common names and the analogies
in language.
[4] The progress of corruption in language is described with precision,
and philosophical reasons assigned with great judgement, by that
celebrated French writer, Condillac, in his Origin of Human Knowlege,
Part 2.
"It is nearly the same here as in physics, where motion, the source of
life, becomes the principle of destruction. When a language abounds
with original writers in every kind, the more a person is endowed
with abilities, the more difficult he thinks it will be to surpass
them. A mere equality would not satisfy his ambition; like them he
wants the pre-eminence. He therefore tries a new road. But as every
stile analogous to the character of the language and to his own, has
been already used by preceding writers, he has nothing left but to
deviate from analogy. Thus in order to be an original, he is obliged to
contribute to the ruin of a language, which, a century sooner, he would
have helped to improve.
"Tho such writers may be criticized, their superior abilities must
still command success. The ease there is in copying their defects, soon
persuades men of indifferent capacities, that they shall acquire the
same degree of reputation. Then begins the reign of strained and subtle
conceits, of affected antitheses, of specious paradoxes, of frivolous
and far-fetched expressions, of new-fangled words, and in short, of
the jargon of persons, whose understandings have been debauched by bad
metaphysics. The public applauds; foolish and ridiculous writings, the
beings of a day, are surprisingly multiplied; a vicious taste infects
the arts and sciences, which is followed by a visible decrease of men
of abilities."
One would think that Condillac had designed here to give a description
of the present taste of the English writers, and a state of their
literature.
The foregoing sentiments seem to have been borrowed from Velleius
Paterculus. Hist. Rom. L. 1. Cap. 17.
The same passage is copied by Sig. Carlo Denina, Professor of Eloquence
and Belles Lettres in the University of Turin, in his "Revolutions of
Literature," page 47; and if I mistake not, the sentiments are adopted
by Lord Kaims, in his Sketches of the History of Man.
Similar reasons may be assigned for the prevalence of an affected and
vitious pronunciation.
[5] Dr. Witherspoon is an exception. His stile is easy, simple and
elegant. I consider Dr. Franklin and Dr. Witherspoon as the two
best writers in America. The words they use, and their arrangement,
appear to flow spontaneously from their manner of thinking. The vast
superiority of their stiles over those of Gibbon and Gillies, is owing
to this circumstance, that the two American writers have bestowed their
labor upon _ideas_, and the English historians upon _words_.
[6] The same taste prevailed in Rome, under the Emperors, when
genius was prostituted to the mean purposes of flattery. "It must be
acknowleged indeed, that after the dissolution of the Roman republic,
this art began to be perverted by being too much admired. Men grew
excessively fond of the numerous stile, and readily sacrificed the
strength and energy of their discourse to the harmony of their
language. Pliny the younger often complains of this contemptible
affectation: And Quintilian speaks of certain prose writers in his
time, who boasted that their compositions were so strictly numerous,
that their hearers might even beat time to their measures. And it
should seem that even in Tully's time, this matter was carried to
excess; since even then the orators dealt so much in numbers, that it
was made a question, wherein they differed from the Poets."----Mason's
Essay on the Power and Harmony of Prosaic Numbers. Introduction, page 4.
This was an abuse of the art. Melody should be studied; but not
principally.
[7] Wallis, Johnson, Kenrick, Sheridan, with a multitude of inferior
compilers.
[8] He found the inhabitants of the maritime towns somewhat
civilized,[9] and in their manners resembling the Gauls, with whom they
had some commercial intercourse. It is probable that the Britons came
originally from the continent, from which their island is separated by
a strait of no great extent.
[9] "Ex his omnibus, long esunt humanissimi, qui Cantium incolunt:
Quæ regio est maritima omnis; _neque multum_ a Gallica differunt
consuetudine."----Cesar De Bello Gallico, Lib. 5.
[10] Tacitus. Jul. Agric. Vit 11.
[11] "Erat autem prisca isthæc Gallis et Britannis communis lingua,
ultra omnium historiarum memoriam antiquæ."----Wallis Gram.
[12] This is said upon the hypothesis, that the ancient Celtic or
British had a common origin with the Hebrew, Phenician and Greek. For
proofs of this, see the notes at the end.
[13] Temple's Introd. to Hist. of England.
[14] At the conquest of Belisle. See the Preface to Mallet's North.
Antiq. page 23.
[15] Works, Vol. 3. Introd. to Hist. Eng.
[16] Indeed a good reason may be given for the apparent difference in
the several branches of the old Celtic. In this language, words are
declined by changing the initial letters, or by prefixing an article
with an apostrophe. By these means, words are so altered, that a
superficial observer may confound the radical letters, with those
which are added for the sake of expressing different relations. Thus
the British word _pen_ signifies, a head; _pen gûr_, a man's head; _i
ben_, his head; _i phen_, her head; _y'm mhen_, my head. This by the
way is no contemptible evidence that the British was derived from the
Phenician or Hebrew, in the latter of which, words are declined by
prefixes, as well as suffixes.
For the difference between the Irish and British, Lluyd assigns other
reasons. The ancestors of the Irish and Highland Scots, who were
called Guydelians, might have been the original Celts, who first
inhabited Britain; and the Cymri or Welsh, another race, or a branch
of the Celtic Cimbri, might, either by colonization or conquest, take
possession of Britain, and introduce a very different dialect of the
same radical language. The Irish language might be somewhat changed by
Cantabrian words, imported by the Scots from Spain; and the Cymraeg or
British might suffer considerable changes during 400 years subjection
to the Romans. See Pref. to Mallet's North. Antiq. page 42.
[17] "Erat autem illa Anglo-Saxonum lingua antiquæ Teutonicæ propago,
(nisi antiquæ Gothicæ seu Geticæ potius dixeris, unde forsan ipsa
Teutonica duxerit originem) ut et Francica illa in Galliam advecta,
et hodierna Germanica, Belgica, Danica, Suevica, Borussica, aliæque
affines linguæ."----WALLIS.
[18] Mallet's North. Antiq.
[19] "~Alloi de Persai eisi hoide, Panthelaioi, Derousiaioi,
Germanioi~."----Herodotus in Clio. ed. 1570, page 34.
[20] 1362.
[21] In this act of Edward III. there is an express reservation in
favor of particular law-phrases or technical terms, which, by long use,
had acquired peculiar force and propriety, and whose place could not be
well supplied by English words or phrases. Hence the number of French
words still used in law proceedings.
[22] We have the testimony of Robert, Earl of Gloucester (who wrote
under Henry III. and Edward I.) to this purpose. Page 364.
"Vor bote a man couth French, me tolth of hym well lute,
Ac lowe men holdeth to Englyss and to her kunde speeche yute."
For but a man knoweth French, men told of him well little, and lowe men
holdeth to English and to their native tongue.---- That is, unless a
man could speak French he was little esteemed.
[23] 1731.
[24] "Ex hac malefano novetatis pruritu, Belgæ Gallicas voces passim
civitate sua donando patrii sermonis puritatem nuper non leviter
inquinârunt, et Chaucerus Poeta, pessimo exemplo, _integris vocum
plaustris ex eadem Gallia in nostram linguam invectis_, eam, nimis
antea a Normannorum victoriæ adulteratam, omni fere nativa gratia et
nitore spoliavit."----Skinner Etymol. L. A. Pref.
[25] Raimond IV. of Aragon, count of Provence, rendered his Court a
temple of the muses, and to this resorted the lovers of the Belles
Lettres from every part of Europe. About the year 1300, a taste for the
Provençal language and poetry was imbibed in Italy, and soon after in
England.--Denina, Chap. 4.
[26] A remarkable example of this kind of stile, we have in
Elphinstone's principles of the English Language. The author has taken
great pains to be obscure, and has succeeded to admiration.
Of this kind of stile, the reader may see a specimen in the following
passage, taken from Young's spirit of Athens. Page 6.
"Surely, in every mind, there is an emulation of virtuous superiority,
which, however fortune or the meaner passions may hebitate its powers,
still, at every example of success in the particular object of its
predilection, glows into a momentary flame, which from frequent
resuscitation may acquire a stability and strength sufficient to reach
at the attainment of what, at first, was regarded solely as matter of
admiration; the idea of imitation which hath thus enraptured the fancy,
may in times of perilous crisis somewhat elevate the mind and influence
the conduct; and if such ever may be the effect, what other lecture can
ballance the utility of that, which thus animates the man, and urges
him to noble and disinterested services in a good, great and public
cause."
The author could hardly have invented an arrangement, better calculated
to obscure his meaning.
It is said of Moliere, that before he would suffer a new play of his to
be acted, he read it to an old woman, and judged, by the effect it had
upon her, what reception it would meet with on the stage. It is a pity,
some modern writers do not copy the example.
[27] Dr. Blair has made a few excellent remarks on this fault, under
the article _Precision_, Lecture 10. I do not remember to have seen any
other criticisms upon this subject.
[28] Ossian.
[29] See Blair, Lecture 6, and Condillac, in his Essay on the Origin of
Human Knowlege. The _dancing_ of David, and others, mentioned in the
Old Testament, was a solemn exercise, in which action was joined with
words to express ideas.
It is said to have been a dispute between Cicero and Roscius, whether
the former could express an idea by a greater variety of _words_,
or the latter by a greater variety of _gesture_.----"Satis constat,
contendere cum (Ciceronem) cum ipso histrione (Roscio) solitum, utrum
ille sæpius eandem sententiam variis gestibus efficeret, an ipse per
eloquentiæ copiam sermone diverso pronunciaret."----Macrob. Saturn, 2.
10.
[30] I cannot think the French _devenir_ prefixed to a verb answers
exactly to both these English forms. The deficiency of the French in
this respect, may be observed in the following passage:
"S'il est vrai que vous _aimiez_ la justice, & que vous _alliez_ en
Créte pour apprendre les loix du bon roi Minos, n'endurcissez point
votre coeur contre mes soupirs & contre mes larmes."----Telemaque,
Liv. 4.
If we translate the passage thus: "If it is true that you _love_
justice and _go_ to Crete," &c. we lose the force of the verb _alliez_;
for the sense is evidently, _are going_, _are now on your journey_. "If
it is true that you _love_ justice and _are going_ to Crete," &c.
In French the verbs _aimiez_ and _alliez_ are both in the same tense,
and have the same form of construction; in English the verbs should be
in the same tense, but have different forms of construction. In French
the force of _alliez_ is collected from the sense of the passage; but
in English, it is expressed by a particular construction.
[31] On the first invention of printing, letters were cut in wood and
fixed. They were afterwards engraved upon metal, still fixed. The third
stage of improvement was the casting of moveable types. It is probable
that this was a work of labor and expense; and it must have been a
long time, before they cast more than one kind of character. Hence the
German character was used in England.
[32] The Germans and Dutch are exceptions: They use their old
characters in their own language; but they use the Latin character and
language in works of science.
[33] This may be supplied by uniting the two characters _s_ and _h_ in
one, and naming the combination _Esh_.
[34] The Germans, who invented printing, had not proper types for the
two Saxon or English characters; they therefore made use of _th_ as a
substitute for both, which defect we have not yet supplied.
[35] Or _tsera_, _tsvilis_.
[36] "Eundem olim (_ph_) sonum habuisse ac _f_ inscriptiones veteres
confirmant, in quibus alterum pro altero promiscue adhiberi cernimus:
ut _phidelis_" (pro fidelis.)---- Middleton de Lat. Liter. Pron. Dis.
Our letter _f_ has some degree of aspiration in its sound; but had its
original Roman sound been precisely that of the Greek ~Ph~ _phi_, it is
probable that _f_ would have been wholly used in derivatives where the
_phi_ occurred. I suspect that _ph_ in Latin must have been originally
more strongly aspirated than _f_; but the transition from the sound
of the one to that of the other was easy, and the distinction was
gradually lost.
[37] We may except Kenrick, who has paid some regard to principles, in
marking the pronunciation.
[Illustration]
DISSERTATION II.
_Of the English Alphabet._--_Rules of
Pronunciation._--_Differences of Pronunciation and controverted
Points examined._
[Illustration]
_Of the_ ENGLISH ALPHABET.
[Illustration]
From a general history of the English language, and some remarks upon
that subject, I proceed to examin its elements, or the powers of the
letters which compose our alphabet.
There are in English, twenty five characters or letters which are the
representatives of certain sounds, either simple or combined; a, b,
c, d, e, f, g, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z.
The English have also the character _h_, which marks an aspiration or
strong breathing, but has very little sound of its own.[G]
Letters, according to the sounds they represent, or the purposes
they serve, are very naturally divided into three kinds; _vowels_,
_dipthongs_, and _consonants_.