The Talking Deaf Man | Page 6

Voice and Breath are, as a fit Matter for them, framed into
such or such _Letters_; for the Voice and Breath are alone the material
part of Letters, but the form of them is to be sought out from the
various Configurations of those hollow Channels, thorough which they
pass; Letters therefore, not as they be certain Characters, but as they are
Pronounced or Spoken, are the Voice and Breath, diversly Figured by

the Instruments ordained for the Speech.
But here we must be pre-admonished concerning the _Letters_; that
there is a great Latitude almost amongst them all, and that one and the
same Character is not pronounced by one and the same Configuration
of the Mouth, yea, in one and the same Language; thus [_a_] and [_e_]
sometimes are sounded open, and sometimes close; also [_o_] hath its
own Latitude, so as many other Letters also may have; yea, as many as
are the divers Modes, by which the Voice and Breath can be Figured,
by the Organs of Speech; but the most easie, only, and the most
Conspicuous are received by all Nations, whose number never almost
exceedeth Twenty four, and have certain Characters annexed to them:
But seeing that these Characters are not every where pronounced alike,
yea, one and the same Letter sometimes is variously sounded by one
and the same People, therefore I have made choice of the German
Letters, which are of my Mother-Tongue, and the most Simple of all
Letters, to be examined in this place: in as much as they are for the
most part sounded every where alike, their Vowels are very Simple, and
agreeable to the nature of the thing, the Diphthongs compounded of
them, do retain the Nature of their compounding Vowels, because they
are always heard pronounced in them, otherwise, than as it is in most
other Languages, which they stile living ones; for sometimes they make
their Diphthongs out of the most Simple Vowels, as are [_au_] [_ou_]
[_ai_] amongst the French, and [_oe_] and [_eu_] amongst the Dutch,
or else they have such improper Diphthongs, that scarce either of their
compounding Vowels can be heard, such are [_oi_] of the French, and
[_uy_] of the Dutch, not to mention more Examples, or else they are
variously sounded according to their various Placings, so as if I were to
teach some Deaf _French-man_, I would from the beginning teach him,
not the French, but the German Letters, or else he would be plainly
confounded. Nor is the state of the Consonants in better case for the
Pronunciation of some of them, is so very different, that there are
scarce two Nations, which pronounce the Character [_g_] after the
same manner.
But in the German Alphabet, that which most disliketh me, is, their
Order; which, in good truth, is none; because scarce two Letters of the

same rank do follow mutually after one another, which would render
the information of Deaf Persons to be so much the more difficult;
wherefore I have reduced them into this following order, which seemed
to me to be the most natural.
_a. e. i. j. y. o. u. ä. ö. ü. m. n. ng. l. r. h. g. ch. s. f. v. k. c. q. d. t. b. p. x.
z._
To those who observe well, it will from this order alone, appear, that I
have divided this whole Alphabet into Vowels, _Semi-vowels_, and
Consonants. The Vowels are a Voice or Sound modified by a various
opening of the Mouth only, and are either Simple, or Uniform, as _a. e.
i. j. y. o. u. w._ Or else they are mixt, which out of two, do so melt
down into one, as that they are pronounced together, and are different
from Diphthongs, in as much as their Vowels are successively
pronounced: Now these mixt Vowels, are ä. ö. ü. which some Nations
either have not at all, or else do write them evilly; but of the manner of
Formation, more shall be said hereafter.
The _Semi-vowels_ are a middle sort between the Genuine Voice, and
a Simple Breath, and may at pleasure be brought forth in the manner as
Vowels are; and they are either of the Nose, or Nasall such are _m. n.
ng._ or else they be of the Mouth, or Orall, as _l. r._ Consonants are a
Simple Breath, not sonorous, yet variously modified, and are of three
kinds:
For they are either pronounced successively, and may be produced at
pleasure, as _g. ch. s. f. v._
Or are suddainly _shot forth_; which upon that score I call them
explosive, as _k. c. q. t. d. b. p._
Or else being Compounded out of two foregoing ones, their number is
diverse in divers Nations; the Germans have two; _viz._ _x._ and