Visible Speech: a New Fact Demonstrated |
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able accomplished accuracy adoption application August basis Bell's BOOK British called characters Chinese claim classification communication complete Conference considerable consisted correct David DAVID BREWSTER demonstrations dialect dictated difficult discovery distinct Edinburgh effect elements Ellis enable English exactly examination experiments express fact foreign French German give given Government heard hearing illiterate Illustrated important India interest introduction invention Italy July knowledge language learned learners letters linguists London Lord means Melville Bell missionary names native nature never offered ordinary organs perfect Persian persons phonetic physiological Physiological Symbols possible practical present Price principle printed problem produce Professor pronounce pronunciation readers referred relations represent Roman Russian scheme selected signs Sons sounds stand Street symbols testimony tion tongue types universal alphabet uttered varieties various vernacular Visible Speech words writing written
Popular passages
Page 24 - being given in several distinct ways. Suddenly German provincialisms were introduced ; then discriminations of sounds often confused. Some Arabic, some Cockney English, with an introduced Arabic guttural, some mispronounced Spanish, and a variety of shades of vowels and diphthongs. " The result was perfectly satisfactory — that is, Mr Bell wrote down my queer and purposely exaggerated pronunciations and mispronunciations, and delicate distinctions, in such a manner that his sons• not having...
Page 29 - ... not having heard them, so uttered them as to surprise me by the extremely correct echo of my own voice Accent, tone, drawl, brevity, indistinctness were all reproduced with surprising accuracy. Being on the watch, I could, as it were, trace the alphabet in the lips of the readers. I think, then, that Mr Bell is justified in the somewhat bold title which he has assumed for his mode of writing —
Page 48 - On the other hand, the sound symbol for p in the new alphabet, says to the learner "shut your lips ;" he does so, and the result is the effect of the letter p. The symbol for b says to the learner "shut your lips as before, and make a murmur of voice ; " and the symbol for m says, " shut your lips in the same way, and sound the voice through the nose.
Page 27 - Sons, who were to read his writing, out of the room — it is interesting to know that the eldest, who read all the words in this case, had only had five weeks' instruction in the use of the alphabet — and I dictated slowly and distinctly the sounds which I wished to be written. These consisted of a few words in Latin, pronounced first as at Eton, then as in Italy, and then according to some theoretical notions of how the Latins might have uttered them. Then came some English provincialisms and...
Page 29 - I am able to judge, Mr. Bell has solved the problem. Not having been able to study the principles of his system, I am unable to appreciate it in its entirety, lie states that he has written a variety of languages to the satisfaction of natives. From what I have seen, I am disposed to think that there is no exaggeration in this statement. I know, indeed, that •we are all inclined to be satisfied with a tolerably decent imitation of our sounds by a foreigner ; and our testimonials as to their powers...
Page 28 - The result was perfectly satisfactory — that is, Mr. Bell wrote down my queer and purposely-exaggerated pronunciations and mispronunciations, and delicate distinctions, in such a manner that his sons, not having heard them, so uttered them as to surprise me by the extremely correct echo of my own voice. I have made it my business for twenty-one years to study alphabetical systems.
Page 51 - The basis of our alphabet must be a physiological one, that is to say, every sound must be defined physiologically before it can claim its own graphic exponent in our alphabet." Wie vile Wirren und wie vilen unnützen Streit hätte Jacob Grimm den Germanisten ersparen können, wenn er mit wenigen Worten in der Grammatik angegeben hätte, worin der phyfiologische Unterschid bestehe, den er in der angefürten Anmerkung im Auge hatte, was die Organe zu tun haben, um den einen...
Page 27 - The mode of procedure was as follows : — Mr Bell sent his two sons, who were to read the writing, out of the room — it is interesting to know that the elder, who read all the words in this case, had only had five weeks...
Page 29 - ... heard them, so uttered them as to surprise me by the extremely correct echo of my own voice. I have made it my business for twentyone years to study alphabetical systems. I do not know one which could have produced the same results. I do not know one which could have written every sound I used. So far, then, as I am able to judge Mr Bell has solved the problem.
Page 24 - a most heterogeneous collection of sounds, such as Latin pronounced in the Etonian and Italian fashions, and according to a purposely rather eccentric theoretical fancy; various provincial and affected English and German utterances . . . Cockneyisms mixed up with Arabic sounds, and so forth," including some sounds not amenable to any known alphabet.
Bibliographic information
| Title | Visible Speech: a New Fact Demonstrated |
| Author | Alexander Melville Bell |
| Publisher | Hamilton, Adams & Company, 1865 |
| Original from | Harvard University |
| Digitized | Oct 4, 2007 |
| Length | 59 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |