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Show 2 INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF INDIAN LANGUAGES, plexity of the sounds of an unwritten language on the one hand, and the want of training to distinguish such sounds on the other, makes the study of its phonology difficult The magnitude of this difficulty in the study of the Indian languages of North America will be better understood when it is known that there are several hundred languages, and that there are probably sounds in each which do not appear in the English or any other civilized tongue; and perhaps sounds in each which do not appear in any of the others; and further, that there are perhaps sounds in each of such a character, or made with so much uncertainty that the ear primarily trained to distinguish English speech is unable to clearly determine what these sounds are, even after many years of effort. But the student of one Indian tongue has but a small part of these difficulties to master. Usually the most elementary sounds into which any Indian language can be resolved will be of a smaller number than the English, and very many of the sounds will be the same or nearly the same as those with which he is familiar. A few only will be strange to him By frequently and carefully comparing the sounds of an Indian tongue with the known sounds of his own language the student will be able to very nearly reproduce and describe them. In his first attempt the obstacles will seem great, but as the work progresses they will largely disappear and he will soon be able to write the language with all the accuracy that linguistic science requires. In practice the student of the Indian tongue will commence by comparing its sounds with those of his own language, and thus the alphabet of his language will become the basis of the one to be used in writing the Indian language. To the English student, then, it becomes necessary to determine how his own alphabet, i. en the Roman letters, can be used for the new language with which he has to deal. There are other reasons than that of mere convenience why the Roman alphabet should be used. First, it is the alphabet with which the greater part of the civilized people of the world are acquainted, and if consistently used all such people can more easily study a tongue recorded with it than if unfamiliar characters are employed Again, the Roman alphabet is used in all printing rooms where the English tongue is spoken, and in very many others; and if a new tongue is written in these characters it can be reproduced without difficulty in almost any printing |
