On some Doubtful or Intermediate Articulations :
An Exi'P^RiMENT in Phonetics.
liy Horatio Hale, Esq.
In many liinp;ua<,'e,s, as is well known, thcro are elementary
sonnds of an indeterminate character, which seem to float
between two, and sometimes even three or fonr, diverse articnla-
tions. Tiie American and tiie Polynesian lan<i;uayes afi'ord many
instances of this S(nt, which have much perplexed those who
have attempted to reduce them to writing. A striking example
is found in the Hidatsa (or Minnetaree) speech, a language of the
Dakota stock, of which we iiave an excellent account by Dr.
Washington Matthews. In this language, he informs us, "there
are two series of interchangeable consonants — a labial series,
consisting of vi, h, and w, and a dental, or linguo-dental series,
consisting of d, /, ?i, and r." Dr. IMatthews regards the m as the
"stantlard letter "of the labial series, and the d as the " standard
letter " of the dental series, and the other letters in each series
as mere variants of these. That is, the word viia, mother, may be
frequently heard with the pronunciations wid and Inn ; and the
word dopa, two, may be heard as nopa, lopa, and ropa.
In the Samoan and Hawaiian languages of Polynesia, spoken
in the Navigator group and the Sandwich Islands, tlie linguo-
dental series has almost as wide a range of variation. The / and
the r are constantly interchanged, and frequently pass into the
d sound. Hilo, the name of a district in Hawaii, has in past
times, before the orthography was settled by the missionaries,
been spelt Hiro and Hido. Fa/e-a/ili, the name of a place in
the Navigator Islands, has in like manner l»een written Frde-
andi. In the (knienga (or Mohawk) language the sounds of
/ and r, of g (liard) and k, of o and ii, are constantly interchanged.
The word for man (or, rather, " he is a man") may be indiffe-
rently written roni/ive, rungwc, lomjwc, Imujivc, rotikwc, riinkwc,
lonkwe, or lunkwc.
In the Hawaiian a remarkable interchange occurs between
the sounds of t and /.'. Teiti and kdki for child, tamita and
kanaka for man, are heard, and were formerly written indiffe-
rently. The element is really the Polynesian t, as is shown by
comparison with other langimges of that stock. The Hawaiian,
so far as is known, is the only language of this family in which
this singular interchange of t and k occurs. The missionaries,
it is said, were perplexed in attempting to determine whether
to use the / and r, or the /• and /, in the al])hal)et of this spee<di.
a
234 IT. Halk. — On some Doubtful or hitcrmcdudc Articulationn:
They finally concluded to submit the question to the kin;,', who
decided in i'avour of the /• and the /. So t'iir as tlie / wiis
concerned, the clioiee was a matter of indifference; l)nt the use
of the /.• has had the rather unfortunate effect of somewliat
dis^'uisinjf, in the written lan^niage, the close siinihirity which
exists between the Hawaiian and the other idioms of Tolynesia.
The IJev. ^Vnl. Ellis, the distin^nnshed missionary writer, autlior
of " Polynesian Itesearehes," and other valuable works, visited
the Sandwich Islands in 1823. Throu^'hout his narrative the
well-known names which are now written Kaniehameha and
Liholiho, are si)elt Tamehameha and IJihoriho. In this ortho-
graphy they correspond with the ibrms in the Tahitia'J language,
with which Mr. Ellis was familiar.
To a student of languages, in considering these interchangeable
sounds, there are three hypotheses which may occur. It be-
comes a point of considerable importance, in pursuing an inquiry
in regard to the origin of the variation of languages belonging
to the same stock, to determine which of these hypotheses is the
correct one.
1. We nught sup]iose that every member of a people speaking
one of these languages uses these interchangeable sounds
indifferently — that a Hidatsa Indian, for example, in uttering the
word for mother, says at one time mia, at {mother win, and at
another hia, as the fancy may strike him, or the euphony of the
sentence may seem to re([uire ; and so a Hawaiian may say
tannta or kanaka, lUhoriho or Lihuliho, according to his momen-
tary caprice or some casual notion of euphony.
2. Another view might be that some speakers prefeiTcd one
sound in the series, and others preferred one or other of its
variants. One Hidatsa might usually say viia, while another
more commonly pronounced the word hia, and a third was
more accustomed to say wia ; just as in English one speaker
may pronounce the vowel in the word " aunt " with the broad
sound of a in far, while another may give it the slender sound
of a in fat ; or as one person may omit and another pronounce
the aspirate in " humble."
3. A third supposition wouhl be that the difference of sound
was not in the speaker's utterance, but in the ear of the listener ;
that the sound as spoken was an indistinct articulation, inter-
mediate between the sounds represented by the two or more
letters of each series, and tliat the hearer, unaccustomed to
sounds of this peculiar character, involuntarily made distinctions
where none really existed.*
Of the three theories thus suggested, the last would, at first
• The same subject is treated in Prof. Max Muller's Lectures on the " Science
of Language," vol. ii, pp. 183-189.
Ati Kiprriincnt in P/ionetie.s. 235
thou«j;lit, set'iii the Iwist likely to bu the covrect one. Those who
liave studied the lunguiiges iii which these umertuiu sounds
occur hiive generally lulopted one or other — or sonietin^es holh —
of the two lornier suppositions. This, I must admit, was the
case with myself, after considerable experience in this line of
study. The third view, which su^jpo.ses the discrimination of the
sounds to be due, not to the speaker, but to the listener, had not
occurred to me until it was forced upon niy attention by the
unexpected result ol' the experiment now to be recorded.
In .July, 1872, I had the pleasure of sjtending a few days at
the hospitable home of my friend, Professor Alexander Melville
liell, the distinguished author of " Visible S})eech," and other
esteemed philological works. Mr. Bell then resided near the
city of Jirantford, Ontario, at a short distance from the (Irand
Kiver Reserve, which is occupied by the (Canadian remnant of
the Irocjuois Confederacy. On one occasion we were joined by
an intelligent Indian friend, Chief George Johnson, the Warden
of the lleserve and Government Interpreter for the six nations.
Chief Johnson was a well-educated man, a Mohawk chief of the
highest rank, and spoke fluently the dialects of all the Invjuois
tribes. The idea occurred to nie of taking advantage of this
opportunity to clear up, with the aid of the practised ear of
Professor Jiell, some dou])tful ])oints in Iroquoie ])honology. 1
proposed that we should take down a list of words in the
Canienga (or Mohawk) dialect — Mr. ]>ell in the nicely discrimi-
nating ali)habet of his "Visible Speech," and I in tlie method
which 1 usually ado])ted in writing these languages. This was
accordingly done, and the dujtlicate list, in Mr. Bell's manuscript
and my own, was left with me for study and comparison.
The result was unexi)ected, and, as it seemed to me, instruc-
tive and valuable. In the languages of the Iroquois group, no
distinction is made between the r and /. In the Canienga
dailect the pronunciation seems to incline more to the sound of
r, while in the softer Oneida speech the / souu'l appears to
predominate. All the missionaries. Catholic, Anglican, and
Methodist, though dill'ering widely in some points of ortiiography,
unite in using the r to represent this .sound in the Canienga
idiom. In the list of words which we wr()te down this element
occurred twenty-one times. Of these, I fountl on e.Kamination
that I had written it ten times with /, ten times with r, and on
one occasion had, in doubt, repeated the word with both ortho-
graphies. Mr. liell had used the I riineteen times and the r
only twice. In two cases in which he had employed the / sound
he had adopted the character which represents the " non-sonant
/," a delicate modification of that liquid which he discerns in the
pronunciation of the French word (fmp/e and in the English /^/^
23G II. Halk. — On some DonUful or Inttrmi'diatr Aiiiciddtiovs:
From this stntenient it is evident that in ei<»ht words where I
heard the sound /•, Mr. Hell at the same moment heanl the
sound of /, cither sonant or non-sonant. The eonclusioti
appears inevital>le that the sound which we lieard was really
neither /• nor /, hut an utterance n»i<hvay Initweeii the two, and
of such a character that to one listener it secuned an r, and to the
otlu'ran /. One of the words, as has heen stated, I wrote at the
time in two forms ronika and ///'/( ///»<, meaninj^ " his father."
.1 was unahle to decide which orthoj^'raphy most accurately
represented the jnonunciation 1 desired to preserve. This word
was written hy Professor Hell lu'ni/in.
It will lie noticed that in writing,' this word I was uncertain
both as to the first consonant and as to the lirst vowel. What
may he called the "round vowel" sound (o or n, ])ronounce(l as
in Italian) occurred in our list thirty-one times. 1 v/rote it
eighteen times with o, twelve times with //, and once— in the word
just cited — with l)oth (*and ?^ Mr. Bell, with j^reaterre^ailarity,
and ju'ohahly a nicer ear, employed the n throughout. The
Catholic missionaries, on the other hand, use only tlij o. The
I'rotestant versions have o for the most ])art, hut emjtloy the w
in a few winds.
Many years a<io, in takinu; down some of the lan<,'uages of
Eastern Australia from the lijw of the natives, 1 ascertained the
curious fact that their lan«,niaji;es nnide no distinction between e
and i, or between o and v.' They had, in fact, but three vowel
s((unds, which mij.';ht be rei»resented either by <r,(', and (>, or hy a,
i, and n, at the pleasure of the writer. The Iroipiois make
a clear distinction ))etween the e and the i. which are not
more frequently confounded in their dialects than in the Indo-
European idioms. Ihit between o and u in Irocpiois no distinction
exists, and from the evidence of the exjieriment new detailed
it is clear that the sound is not a varying one, inclining at
one time to o and at another to u, but a sound so exactly
midway ]>etween the two as to ])erplex an English ear, anil to
lead two hearers to write the same utterance with ditt'erent
characters.
The Canienga language makes no distinction l)etween the k
and the //, or Ixitween the t and the d. The English missionaries
use all these letters ; the Freiuih missionaries employ only the k
and t. The evidence of our list shows tiiat the latter are most
nearly accurate, as it is clear that in the native pronunciation
the. sound approaches more ch)3ely to the vowel than to the
sonant utterance. Mr. Bell has written the /; twenty-four times
and the ff only six times ; he has the t twenty-six times, and the
d four times. I wrote, in the same words, k throughout, and t
' All the vowels ure to be sounded ivs in ItaUau or German.
All. KrperiiiniU in Phonetics. 237
in every iiistiiMce l)ut oiki— the word for "hunci," which was
writUni Uy me onuinhi, and l>y Mr. \WA\ itnvmizi. The same
word with ^. prelix ('iny heiid ") was written by Mr. Jiell
ai/enitnfziiin, and hy nio in two lonns, akmuiitsine and
akoiKudzitii'.
The lro((uois hiii;.,'ua<,'e has a strong <^'uttural aspirate, which
the Kn;^dish niissionaries express in some words hy h, in others
by hh, and in many instances hy ////. The early Jesuit mission-
aries, as appears from Ihuyas's well-known work {liadires
Vn-boridu /nx/meondii), had also a threefold notation for this
sound, employing sometimes the h, sometimes the (Jreek x, t^nJ
sometimes the (Jreek ,'if)iri/its aqwr ('). The modern French
missionaries, after long and careful study of the language,
have decided that all these sounds are but variations, real or
ai'parent, of a single element, which they represent hy h. The
experiment now recorded shows not merely that this view is the
correct one, l)ut also that the variations are only apparent, and
depend rather on the ear of the listener than on any actual
difference of enunciation. In our list I have written the h
twenty times and the stronger aspirate (here represented by q)
six times. Mr. Hell in the same words heard only the h ; but
he in three instances emidovs what he terms in hia svstem the
"breath-glide" (which 1 transcril)e by the ,<piritiis asptr ') when
I have used the h or the q. This occurs only in conjunction with
the " non-sonant /," {or l), as in e/hal!, dog, which 1 have written
elhnl/i,ixnd in hi'hife, tree, which 1 wrote /iCql/iitc. The aspirate
and the litpiid in these cases are so combined that it is difficult
to say which is first uttered.
The first impulse of many persons on reading of these
indeterminate vowcds will dvmlttless be to account for them by
the fact that the languages in which they occur are in the un-
* cultivated or barbarous stage, lurther consideration, however,
will show that this view cannot be maintained. We know from
the evidence of the Vedas, the Homeric poems, and the
Moallakat, what was the state of the Sanscrit, the C J reek, and
the Arabic, at a time when the people who spoke these languages
were nnle.ttered barbarians. We are aware that the speakers of
those tongues discriminated sounds with an accuracy and a
variety which their more civilised descendants have failed to
preserve. Further, we discover that nuuiy narbarous communi-
ties of the present day ex])re3S delicate shades of pronunciation,
which we can only with difficulty imitate. In the proper
Dakota (or Sioux) language, for example, we learn from the
excellent gi-ammar of the Kev. S. K. lliggs, that not only are the
surds k, p, and t, distinguished from the sonants (/, b, and d, as
in English, but tliat there is another distinction which does not
238 H. IIalk. — On nome Donhf/iil or f/ilrrmallttfiArflinInliunn:
exist in oiir liiiij,Miii;;('. Kacli of tlio surds, as well as tlio
connHisite souml wliit-li roin'spoiuls to the Kii^lish ch in "chin,"
has a ati'on^f exphtsivc or cinphiitii; utterance, \vhi(th makes of it
a distinct element. This dilference of sound is indicated in Mr.
Kig^'s's alphabet l»y a dot under the emithatic hotter. Imlelauli
of these characters we may emidoy " small ca])itals." The fol-
lowing list will show how accurately tlu'se barharous 8i)eakers
discriminated in their phoiutlo^'y : —
Hotiunt.
Surd.
EmpliBtic.
1)0, to hitfrh
du, to ask
1)0, nhiirp
KII, to CoiHf
111, moone
clitt, when
PC, flm
Kii, to ifive
Til, /() die
ciitt, to dig
No instance of the sonant <f is ^'iven, as that in the Dakota is
merely a dialectical variation. The lan<;ua<j;es of the Maya, or
Central American, family aliound in nice distinctions of elementary
sounds, which f(»rei<;ners have a dillicidty in acquirinj^. The
]Iawaiian, which confounds the / with the r and the t with the
k, has preserved a jieculiarity so ajjparently sli«j;ht that the mis-
sionaries unfortunately have not deemed it worth indicating;
and yet it is, in fact, of the first im])ortance, both in science and
in practical use. It is a hiatus, or catching of the breath, which
shows where an element formerly in use lias disa]»i)eared from
the language. This element is the rolynesian /■, which is still
retained in the dialects of New Zealand, the Friendly Islantls
(Tonga), and some other groups, but has disajijieared from those
of Samoa, Tahiti, and Haw aii. Thus the original Polynesian ika,
fish, becomes in Hawaiian i'a ; aliki or <(riki, chief, becomes <il%i,'
kai, to eat, becomes '«?', and soon. The first missionaries to these
islands were, intelligent and well-educated men; but, accustomed
only to the Englisli pronunciation, they lailcd to notice this
delicate trace of utterance, or did not think it worth indicating.
They themselves never ac(|uired it, though their children, born
and reared in the islands, use it habitually, like their aboriginal
companions. In the native ]tronunciation, the words ao, daylight,
ao (for the Polynesian r?/.(>), to teach, and '(to (for the Polynesian
kao), to sprout, are ])laiuly distinguished ; but in the ordinary
orthogTa])hy of the language, all these v;ords are confounded in
one spelling ao. It is precisely as though the English language
were to be written for the first time by ])er.sons who could not
distinguish the aspirate. No difference would be made in their
orthography between heat and cnf, hair and ni)' ; and in reading
All Kr/friinent in Phoml.icd, 239
of tlio " ciljro " of !i fu'ld, \v(« .should ii(»t kiiow, from the Hpclling,
whether th»^ writer referred to its hctrder or its hedjre.
The same iH-culinrity is found in the InM^iois diiduct.s, and
has been e(|Uidly lu'^^h-eted Ity the ndssionaries, exeej)! in oiio
instance. The Ilev. Asher " VVrij;ht, the late accomjilished
missionary an \i the Seneeas, who liad a turn for ithilolofjy,
and esjx'cially for distin;^'uishin,i,'souiuls, has employed a peculTar
charaeter, a modification of the h (which we may represent liy ii)
to indicate this hiatus, lie remarks of it: — "This letter never
j)recedes a vowel. Kollowin<,'one, it should bespoken by f;ivin"
the vowel an explosive forc(^ and breakinj,' it olf .suddenly, in
such a manner as for tJu! iii.stant to stoj) the breuth entirely, as
we often hear while |teoj»le in hastily pronouncinjj; the interjection
Oh : — especially when they repeat it several times in rapid
succession, in indicatinj^' to a child that it is doinj^ something
wront,'. This .sound is very abundant in Seneca, and, used in con-
junction with ctatain other modifications, the mode and time of
verbs, and various other circumstances, are denoted by it. Often,
also, it forms the chief distinction between words of very dis-
similar meaning,'. No one can read or write Seneca intelligibly
who does not pay the strictest attention to this character and
avoid confounding it with the rough as])irate of the common A."
Thus, among the examples, we find tiuit hawnih, "my lather"
(speaking of him), has for its vocative form linwniw, " my
father" (.speaking to him). Wa-n^ii, "he said," (litters only by
the absence of this element in the first syllable from vMii-a^h,
" she thought." In the Tuscarora an example given to me by an
intelligent school-teacher of that nation was o/i.sdukira, " finger,"
which dilfers oidy in this element from ohsuhkica, " lip." In the
Canienga or Mohawk dialec-t, this hiatus was noted by both Mr.
Bell and myself, though, as was mitural in writing a strange
language, we did not always remark it, and in some instances
it was noticed by one ami omitted by the other. 1 have usually
represented it by an apostrophe, as in ihsha'a," child," I iriiih a,
" his father." Whether the hiatus indicates in the Iroquois, as
in the Hawaiian, the loss of an element, or is a mere trick of
utterance, is a question not yet determined.
Many languages which have been reduced to writing of late
years, in America, Oceania, and Africa, have undoubtedly
suffered a serious impoverishment in their phonology from the
fact that the persons by whom they were tirst written were
foreigners accustomed only to the European mode of utterance.
If the Sanscrit had been tir.st written by an Englishman, a
Frenchman, or a German, it is very doubtful if the distinction
between the lingual and dental elements would have been
preserved. The Arabic, under the like circumstances, would
240 11. H.VI.K. — (hi Homr Diiiiht/ul ,ir I iitnnutHoti Arliiuhttlona :
proliiihly Imvc siilU'rcd a serious (l('t('riuniti(»ii in its (hnitiils nnd
its ^'tittunils. 'i'lic t'liilmmtfrirciiinsliinct! tliat Mr. Ili^';,'s was an
nc(!()iii|»lislie(l |tliiiiil<);j;ist lias lucsi'rvfd in tlic hakota lan!j;ua;,'»j
ilistinrtiniis that Wfaild pmlialtly olln'rwisc havi' Ikm'ii lost, liut I'or
this "luckv at'cidcnt," the readers ui that hmLjua^e would liavo
had no evidence of the dillereiice (tf pionniieiation whie.h exists
between ha, to conic, and K/', to jj;ive. l>ii, to ask, tn, a nioost;,
(iiiil '1V^ to (he, nii<^ht havu hecu cont'ounih'd in the hakota.as
ao, daylijU'ht, '"" tti teach, and n'o, ti'spriait.are in»w conloiuided in
the Hawaiian. Xo one, prohalily, lail a srhohir laniiliar with tho
Seiniti<! ton^'ues wonhl have ihstjunjnislu'd and represenfed in tho
Dakota, the form of <; which expres.ses "a ileep sonant ^Mittural
rcseinldin^j; the Arabic ghain (i) and the form (»f ii which
represents a strong; sunl },Mitlural resemblin<,' the Arabic kha (^). "
There are still many unwritten lan^'naj,'es in Westein Oceania
niid in Central Africa, for which aipl:.ibets will have to bo
provided. It will be fortunati! if the persons to whom this
imp(»rtant duty iw entrusted shall Ik; .scholars trained in tho
scientitio study of lan;4ua;4e. If this advantaj^o cannot bo
secured, care may at least lie taken that the work of settlinj^
the alphabet shall not in any ca.se be entrusted to om; person,
however intellijj;ent nntl W(dl-iustructed. Tla^ result of tho
experiment now recorded will show how essential it is that,
to determine the real distincti(»ns in the ehunentary sounds of a
lun<i[ua<;e, its words should be taken (U)wn by two or more
persons, listeninj^ and writing' simidtaneously. In this way
alone it will be possil)le to avoid, on the ont^ hand, the dan<^er of
coidbundin;^ sounds which should be kept distinct, and, on Mm
other, that of tlndin<,' distinctions where none; really exist.
As rej,'ards the special results of this exi)eriment, it will not
be safe to infer that in all cases where such uncertainty jirevails
as is found to exist in tho Iro<|uois and the I'olynesian dialects
in discriminating between sounds which to us seem widely
ditterent, this uncertainty is due to a lack of clear ]»erception
in the listener. It is hi^ddy probable that in some cases tho
proimnciation of the dilferent natives, or of the same native at
different times, actually varies. Hut the experience now set
forth will at least serve to ])rove that this is not always, or
])erhaps usually, the case. We must reco<^nise the fact, which
has heretofore been overlooked, that in certain languaj^e.s — and
possibly in all languages — there are elementary sounds which
affect so diflferently the ears of two listeners accustomed to a
foreign speech, that in noting them they will be likely to use
different characters to represent the same utterance. In other
words, there are elements, in some if not in all languages, which
Jti K.ijMfiiiicnl in J'/wnetivs.
hold a mitlille plnco between two correa])ondinj? elements
of some other liuiKuiiK'e. And the sounds which these medial
elements thus represent may even be as widely diverse as,
according,' to our notions, the r is from the /, and the t tVoni
the k.
In our own lan^'uaf,'e a 8inj;;ular instance of this peculiarity
has been noted and well described in an article on Shakespeare
by the distin«,'uished philologist and Shakes|)earean connuentator,
Mr. Kichard Grant White, which appeared in the Atlantic
MoiUhlij for June, 1884. Mr. White brings to notice the
curious fact that in Shakespeare's time, and earlier, there were
many English words in which the dental sound was written
indiscriminately either with t and th, or with d and dh.
He gives numerous examples, such as stidwart and sttdivorth,
Jifth and Jift, hctfcr and ict/ur, hundred, hnndret, and Imndreth,
sivart/i7j and sioart)/, invrdcr ond murt/ier,hin'dtn and hurthm ;
and he continues — speaking of his own edition of Shakespeare's
works : — " It will be observed iliat in tlie lii ersid j Shakespeare,
murder has both its modern spelling and tiie form murt/wr.
The variation is that of tlie old copies, which was purposely
retained. The pronunciation was not viurlher, with the theta
sound, which is j)oorly indicated by th, nor exactly that of d,
but just that, I am sure, which has survived in the north of
Ireland (carried there by English invaders, and chiclly by
Cromwell's trooju-rs), and whicli we have all heard, viiirdher."
This acute suggestion of Mr. White gives us a case which is
exactly in point. Every one who has heard the Irish pro-
nunciation of the word in question is aware that it is sucli as
one hearer might represent by viurder, while another would
prefer to spell it mvrther. In other words, it is an intermediate
sound between the d and the th, exactly analogous to the inter-
mediate elements which are found in the Iroquois and other
languages.
The manner in wliich diflferences of dialect, and finally of
language, might glow out of this peculiarity of pronunciation is
evident. If an emigrating liorde, whose speech possessed these
indeterminate elements, were to conquer and absorb a tribe
accustomed to a more precise mode of utterance, these indistinct
articulations would, in the mingled race, tend to assume a fixed
and positive character in one direction. A like result, though
in a ditt'erent direction of change, might happen in a second or
a third migration, encountering and overcoming other tribes.
Thus theHidatsa people might send out three conquering colonies,
in one of which the word for " mother " might come to be always
pronounced hia, in the second mia, and in the third wia. If
the original Aryan speech possessed intermediate articulations
h
242 H. Hale. — On sunie DoaUfnl or Inkrmediatc Artu'idatluns:
of the kind now described, it is easy to understand how in the
progress of the conciuering migrations of Aryan hordes wliich
absorbed the original populations of Northern India and of
Europe, the varieties of pronunciation signalised in " CJrimni's
law," as well as many other changes, consonant)^ji and vocalic, a/
would gradually arise. These changes, with the accompanying
alterations in grannnar, and the inevitable acquisitions of new
words from the idioms of the conquered tribes, would linally
produce the various Indo-European languages.
The following is the list of words taken down by Mr. liell
and myself. It must be borne in mind that the words were
written hastily, with only one hearing, and with no opportunity
of revision. Under such circumstances some mistakes are
inevitable, and must be allowed for. In the orthography here
adopted, the consonants have in general their English sounds,
and the vowels their Italian or Crerman sounds. The (; is
sounded like the sk in " shine," and t^; represents the sound of
cA in "chest." The q represents the German vh ((Ireek 'x).
The d is the Urvocal, or tlie short English u in " but." The
Erencli nasal n is indicated by a small " above the line, and the
English nasal {ny in " song") by h. The apostrophe ( ' ) marks
the hiatus, or sudden catcliing of the breath, already referreil to.
I have added the corresponding words in the forms severally
adopted by the Anglican and the Iioman Catholic missionaries,
the former written for me by an educated ]\Ioliawk, and the
latter derived from the Iroquois Lexicon of the Ilev. J. A. Cuoq.
For the purpose of comparison all the words are transliterated
from the differing missionary orthographies into the alphabet
employed in my own list. A study of those various forms,
taken in conjunction with the facts of our experiment, will
probably be found sufficient to establish the existence of several
of those intermediate articulations whose part and influence in
the phonology of language have been generally overlooked.
Canienga (or Mohawk) Vocabulahy in Fouk Hendehings.
Bell.
Hale.
Englisli
Mission.
R.C. Mission.
one . .
sl'>skHh
u"ska . .
u"skalit, or
a"ska
tl"8kat, a°sha.
two ..
tekinih
tekenih
tekeni
tekoni.
three
aqsa" . .
ahsa" . .
ahs^" . .
aksa".
four , .
kfivelih
kajelili
kayerili
kaieri.
five . .
wisk . .
wisk . .
wisk . .
wisk.
six . .
yava'k*
yavak. .
yaynk . .
iaiak.
seven
tjatah
t^atii' . .
jadahk
tsiatak.
eight
satekii"
sa'teku"
9adeko"li
sateko".
An Experiment in Phonvl.us. 243
Canienga (or Mohawk) Vocadulauy in four Renderings — continued.
Bell.
Halo.
English
Mission.
B.C. Mission.
nine . .
tyuhti"
tiohto"
tyohdo"h
tiohto".
ten . .
uyeli
oyeli . .
oyerie. . , .
oieri.
eleven
a"8kaeaw)V'li . .
a"ska yawjloli
a"8kaht
yawjl"re
il"skat iawk"ro.
twelve
tegeniawfk"li . .
tekeni ya\vil"li
tekeni yaw^"re
tekeni iaw&"ra.
twenty . .
towilishk" . .
tewficisi"
tewahsh^"
tewastl".
thirty
aliBiluewiihs^"
aqsilniwaqsil''
alisi,"
niwahsha"
ahsa" niwasi".
forty
kayeliniwalisik"
kayeliniwaqsi"
kayerih
niwahsh^"
kaieri niwasa".
fifty . .
wiskniwahsi,"
wisk niwuqs^"
wiak
niwahshil»
wi8k niwasa".
one hundred
^"skahtewil"-
a"ska tewi"-
a"8kaht dew&,°-
e"skat tewil"-
'niawi
'nifiwe
niawe
niawe.
two liundred
tekinidewil"-
tekeni tew^"-
tekeni dewi"-
tekeni tewil"-
'uifiwi
'niawe
iiiawo
niawe.
three hundred
ahstV'dew^"-
ahsi" tewil"-
alisi" dewa"-
ahsi\" tewS,-
'nifiwi
'niiiwe
niawe
niawe.
one thousand
uy elite wa"-
oyeli tewi"-
oyeri dewa"-
oieri tewii''-
'niawi
'niawe
niawi
niawe.
my father , .
rake'nlha
rake'niha
rakcniha
rakenihn.
thy father . .
ya'niha
ya'niha
yaniha
hianiha.
hi8 father . .
lu'niiia
ro'niha, lu'nTlia
roniha
roniha.
my mother . .
IstiV'a
i.sta'''a
isd^"ah
isti'-ha.
tliy mother . .
8a'ni8ti"ha ..
8iini8i^"ha . .
sanisdiV'ha . .
8anisti\"ha.
his mother . .
lu'nisti'Mia ..
ro'ni8ti"ha . .
roni8t(\"ha . .
ronisti"ha.
my head
a){entt"tilnt\ . .
akenu"tslne or
akeno"dzino
akeno"djih or
akeno"djineh
akeno"tsi.
thy head
zanuntslnii . .
srinu"t8lne . .
8ano"djih
fcano"t8i.
his head
laiintlntsTn^ . .
raonu°tsine . .
raono"djih . .
raono"t8i.
my liair
agenu"kwi8 ..
akenu"kwi8 . .
akeno"kwi8 . .
akeno"kwi8.
hair . .
iinu"kwi8
onu"kwi9
ono"kwi8
ono"kwi8.
head. .
flnundzih
omV'dzi
onoMjih
ono^tsi.
eye . .
tikaliV
okara . .
okara . .
okahra.
nose . .
u'nyu"'8a
o'nIu"'8a
onyo"3a
onio"9a.
teeth
unfiwi'
onawi
onawi..
onawira.
ear . .
uhu"ta
ohu"ta
oho"da . .
oho°ta.
liand
U8nii"sa
08nu"8a
08no''sa
osno^sa.
tree . . . .
keL'hite
keqlhite
kerhide
kerhite.
dog ..
elhaL*
elhalh
erhar . .
erhar.
house
kanu"sa
kaniV'sa
kano°8a . .
kano^sa.
town
kanuta
kanuta
kanada
kanata.
large town . .
kanatuwuni\"
kanatowiink"..
kanadowantV"
kauatowan^".
man . .
lu"gwe
runkwe
ro"gwe
ro°kwe.
woman
ikslnVa
iksluVa
exhaah
eksaa.
husband
lune . .
lone . .
vone ..
rone.
wife . .
tiagenitelu" . .
tiakenltelu" ..
tpyagenidero"
teiakenitero".
white
k(\"lrik^"
ktt"raka"
ki\"i*aki''
kJlrak^".
black
kahu"dzi
kahu'Hfi
kaho"jih
kaho"t8i.
yellow
red . .
utsTnakwaL* . .
otsTnekwahr . .
odjinekwar . .
otsinekwar.
unekw!l"kark
onekw&"tara . .
onekwk"dara..
onekwi"tara.
green
uhu"'te
ohunte
oho"de
oho"te.
ISeprinted from the Journal of the Anthropological Institute, February, 1885.]
Harrison and Sons, Printers in Ordinary to Her Majesty, St. Martin's Lane.