The Talking Deaf Man | Page 7

_z._
To this Division, in which I have had respect chiefly to the nature, and
manner of pronouncing the Letters, may not impertinently be added,
that those Letters are formed mostly in three Regions of the Mouth,

_viz._ in the bottom, or _Throat_; in the middle, or in the Palate and
_Teeth_; and lastly, in the utmost part thereof, or in the _Lips_: Hence
it is, from every one of their Classes almost, are three sorts; one
Guttural, another Dental, and a third _Labial_; but of these, more
hereafter.
I will here prevent the Readers who may object to me in the following
Chapter, that this my Doctrin will be always lame, because all Deaf
Persons, whom we would teach by the Tongue, Lips, _&c._ will never
by their Sight attain unto these motions: But, besides that the Sight doth
not give place to the Hearing, as to a quick sensibility, I affirm, that
there is no need thereof, if once they have made but any Progress; for
even we our selves do very often not hear in Pronunciation those
Letters which I call Consonants, but we collect them from the Vowels
and _Semi-vowels_, commixed together with them: No Man, for
Example, shall so pronounce _b. g._ or _d._ as that he may be heard at
a hundred Paces distant. And this seems to me to be the principal
reason why we can most rarely pronounce or repeat at the first blush,
any word spoken in a foreign Language.
But before I shall unfold the nature, and manner of forming the Letters
in special, I judged that it was not here to be omitted, how that as all the
Letters, yea also, and the Vowels them-selves, cannot by any means be
pronounced, as they are a Simple Breath, and not sonorous; for when
we, for Example, do whisper somewhat to one in his Ear, so the
Consonants also, excepting those which I call Explosive, may be
pronounced vocally, or with the Voice conjoyned; and there are Nations
which pronounce thus, as the French do their _z._ and their _v._
I shall now treat of the Letters especially, and will examine them so, as
both the absolute Simplicity of the German Letters may be manifested;
and other Nations, from their Mode of Formation, may learn, how they
ought to pronounce them; upon this account also, I shall add how
improperly some Nations do render the same Letters in their own
Language. Now in this Explication I shall observe the same order as I
did in the Division of them, where readily it will appear, that Voice and
Breath are according to a triple Region of the Mouth, triply figured or

formed spontaneously.
Therefore the Simple and Uniform Vowels are, _a._ _e._ _i._ _j._ _y._
_o._ _u._ _w._ and are formed after the following manner.
_a._ is a Gutteral Vowel, and the most Simple of all; the Key of the
Alphabet, and therefore is by all Nations set first of all, excepting only
(as far as I know) the Abyssines, by whom, as Ludolf testifieth, it is
placed as the Thirteenth Letter. True indeed it may be pronounced by
various Placings of the Tongue, yet the common, and most convenient
is, that the Tongue should be in its posture of rest; and then being
gently stretched forth in the Mouth, it may only lightly, or not at all
touch upon the utmost Border of the lower _Teeth_; if therefore the
lower Jaw be drawn downwards, and thereby the Mouth be opened, that
the Voice formed in the Throat, strikes not neither against the Teeth,
nor against the Lips, than a plain open [_a_] is heard, _e. i. j. y._ are
Dental Vowels, or the Voice, which in coming forth, smites more or
less against the _Teeth_; Hence it is that Infants, although they can say
_Pappa, bo, &c._ yet can they not pronounce these Letters until they
have Teeth, especially the Cutters, or _fore-Teeth_; and indeed [_e_] is
formed, when the Voice, (the Lips being gently opened), strikes against
the Teeth also moderately opened; now the posture of the Tongue is
such, that it somewhat presses on each side upon the _Dog-Teeth_ of
the Inferior Jaw, for so the passage of the Voice is made narrower, and
the [_e_] much more clear.
_i. j._ and _y._ are the same Vowel, pronounced one while more short,
and another more long, nor doth it stand upon any Foundation, [_i_]
sometimes doth become a Consonant, but then is pronounced only
more swiftly, so as together with the following Vowel, it can make a
_Diphthong_; but [_i_] is formed after the same manner almost, as [_e_]
except that the Teeth are for the most part, more stricken, and the
Tongue put close to the Teeth, the passage of