Page:The education of the deaf and dumb practically considered.djvu/9

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symbol misread; but the living word-question brought light to shine on the inmost thought, to reveal the difficulty not yet fully surmounted, and which might otherwise have remained unknown.

In learning to speak, children imitate the sounds they hear uttered, without any regard to the position of the vocal organs used in forming them. With the deaf the case is different: they must be taught—first, to place the organs in the right positions, and then to emit sounds which will at first approximate, and at length resemble ordinary speech.

The accompanying diagram,^[1] copied from Dr. Wilkins' "Essay towards a Real Character," will give a very good idea of the positions of the organs requisite for producing vocal sounds.

The first column contains the vowels, eight in number by reason of the addition of ȣ (for ou, the true sound of w), of the broad a, and of y.

They are divided into:—

I. Labial.—Being formed by the lips o and ȣ; u is a compound vowel.

II. Lingual.—Formed by the tongue, a, a, e; i is a compound vowel.

III. Gutteral.—Emission of breath from the throat y.

The other columns contain the consonants:—

I. Labial.

1. Breathless, B, P.

2. Breathing through the	$\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$	mouth, V, F.
		nose, M, HM.

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1. See frontispiece.