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or g, and where we have t, d or th, Japanese will have t or d or the letters which replace them before i and u. Upon the whole, however, Japanese would appear to approach more closely to the sounds of the principal branch of the Aryan family, viz., that represented by Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, etc.
Grimm’s law is subject to numerous exceptions. For example in English an h is often found, especially at the beginning of a word, where the rule requires an aspirated k or g i. e. ch or gh. Such differences must be allowed for, in comparing with Japanese, languages in which these exceptions are found.
The principles, some of the more important of which have now been briefly indicated, have been to some extent applied in preparing the following list of examples of apparent identity between Japanese and Aryan roots. It is not maintained, however, that these cases of similarity establish conclusively the hypothesis in question. They are rather to be looked upon as so much raw material, the real value of which it is difficult in the present state of our knowledge to determine, and they are given merely for what they are worth. The most that can be said of them is that they present a plausible primâ facie case in favour of the proposition that Japanese is remotely related to Aryan languages.
The following are a few examples out of a much larger number which might have been given:—
