mere mistranslation of the Sanskrit name"Murddhanya."[1] These linguals vary again in the degree of obtuseness imparted to them in different dialects, and which evades graphical representation. All letters that cease to be pure dentals by shifting the point of contact backward from the teeth, must be considered as linguals; and many languages, Semitic as well as Arian, use them for distinct etymological purposes. As with the palatals, we have with the linguals also a complete set of modified consonants. The lingual tenuis, tenuis aspirata, media, media aspirata, and nasal have no corresponding sounds in English, because, as we shall see, the English organ has modified the dental sounds by a forward and not by a backward movement. The semi-vowel is the lingual r, produced by a vibration of the curled tongue in which the Italians and Scotch excel, and which we find it difficult to imitate. The English and the German r become mostly guttural, while, on the contrary, the Semitic guttural semi-vowel, 'hain, takes frequently the sound of a guttural r. It miglit be advisable to distinguish between a guttural and a lingual r; but most organs can only pronounce either the one or the other, and the two therefore seldom co-exist in the same dialect.
The lingual sibilant is a sound peculiar to the Sanskrit; and as, particularly in modern Indian dialects, it interchanges with the guttural tenuis aspirata, its pronunciation must have partaken of a certain guttural flatus.
There is a peculiarity in the pronunciation of the dental tenuis aspirata and media aspirata, which, though it exists but in few languages, deserves to be noticed here. In most of the spoken idioms of Europe, although a distinction is made in writing, there is hardly any
- ↑ "Murddbanya," being derived from "murddhan," head or top, was a technical name given to these letters, because their place was the top or highest point in the dome of the palate, the obpavos of the Greeks. The proper translation would have been "Cacuminals." Cerebrals" is wrong in every respect; for no letter is pronounced by means of the brain, nor does "ruurddhan" mean brain. It is not advisable to retain this name, even as a technical term, after it has been proved to owe its origin to a mere mistranslation. It is a word which has given rise to confused ideas on the nature of the lingual letters, and which ought therefore to be discarded from philological treatises, though the mistranslation and its cause have hitherto failed to attract the observation of either Sanskrit or comparative grammarians.
