Page:AnEssayTowardsARealCharacterAndAPhilosophicalLanguage.pdf/400

ſhould be pronounced lmodh and mloch, but becauſe LM and ML, will not of themſelves coaleſce, therefore is Schevah interpoſed, which being rapidly pronounced (and that probably as our ſhort ỿ) does not ſeem to make any diſtinct Syllable.

So that it ſeems much more colourable to infer the Novelty of the Hebrew Points, from the Accurateneſs, than from the injudiciouſneſs of their contrivance.

---

Thoſe Letters are ſtiled Conſonants, in the pronouncing of which the Breath is intercepted, by ſome Colliſion or Cloſure, amongſt the Inſtruments of Speech: And for this reaſon are they ſtiled Clauſae Literæ, as the Vowels are Apertæ.

The common diſtinction of theſe into Semi-vowels and Mutes, will not upon a ſtrict enquiry be adaequate. And therefore I do rather chuſe to diſtribute them into theſe three kinds;

1. πνευματώδη, Spiritous, or Breathed.
2. ἡμίπνευα, (if I may uſe that word) Semi-ſpiritous, or half Breath­ed.
3. ἀπνεύματα, Non-ſpiritous, or Breathleſs.

1. By Spiritous, or Breathed, are meant ſuch Conſonants, as re­quire to the framing of them a more ſtrong emiſſion of the Breath, ei­ther through the

${\displaystyle \scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}}$	Noſe.
	Mouth.

1. The Conſonants which are to be breathed only through the Noſe, may be again diſtin­guiſhed into

${\displaystyle \scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}}$	1. Sonorous, as M. N. Ng.
	2. Mute, as hm. hn. hng.

Both theſe kinds, as likewiſe thoſe that follow through the Mouth, have ſome imperfect ſound of their own, without the joyning of any Vowel with them; though the ſonorous only be Vocal; and the mute ſort are only a kind of Whiſper.

By Sonorous, are meant, ſuch as require ſome voice or vocal ſound, to the framing of them.

By the Mutes of theſe, are meant other Letters of the ſame confi­guration, pronounced with a ſtrong emiſſion of the Breath, without any Vocal ſound.

(m) is mugitus, the natural ſound of Lowing, when the Lips are ſhut, and the ſound proceeds out of the Noſe. 'Tis counted of dif­ficult pronunciation in the end of words: For which reaſon, the La­tin Poets cut it off in Verſe, when it comes before a Vowel in the next words: And the Greeks do not terminate any word with it.

(N) is Tinnitus, when the breath is ſent out, the Limbus of the Tongue being fixed towards the Gums, or bottom of the upper Fore­teeth. In the pronouncing of this, the breath is emitted only out of the Noſe, which makes it differ from (L). 'Tis counted a pleaſant and