I. Which are the principal sounds that can be formed with our organs of speech, and therefore may be expected to occur in any of the dead or living dialects of mankind?
This is a physiological question.
II. How can these principal sounds, after proper classification, be expressed by us in writing and printing so as to preserve their physiological value, without creating new typographical difficulties?
This is a practical question.
III. How can this physiological alphabet be applied to existing languages, and
a. to unwritten diolects;
This depends on a good ear.
b. to written dialects;
This depends on philological research.
Coroll. III. a. In the application of the physiological alphabet to languages not yet fixed by writing, the missionary should be guided entirely by ear, without paying any regard to etymological considerations, which are too apt to mislead even the most accomplished scholar.
III. b. In transcribing languages possessed of an historical orthography, and where, for reasons best known to the archæologist, one sign may represent different sounds, and one sound be expressed by different signs, new and entirely distinct questions are involved, such as must be solved by archæological and philological research. We shall, therefore, discuss this part (III. b.) separately, and distinguish it by the name of "Transliteration," from the usual method of "transcribing" as applied to unwritten tongues.
I.
On the first point, which must form the basis of the whole, we have the immense advantage that all scholars who have written on it have
