At what time the Sanscrit or other Indian alphabets were formed, we are totally in the dark ; the fables of the Bramins being unworthy of notice. It certainly is of great antiquity, and has obtained very extensive cur rency. From this source are derived the sacred charac ters of Thibet, the C'ashmerian, Bengalese, i'ialabaric, Singalese, Siamese, Barman, and many other alphabets.
In Plate XII. are given several Oriental alphabets, all of them evidently related to and derived from the Deva nagaree Sanscrit. Though the forms of the letters are different, yet the essential resemblance of each of the alphabets to the parent stock, indicate beyond a doubt from what source they proceeded.
The Bramins through all India make use of the San crit language, as the learned language in which they correspond among themselves ; the Deva-nagaree thus becomes their great medium of communication.
Copious as the Sanscrit alphabet seems to be, it is so more in appearance than reality ; indeed it may be ques tioned whether it be even as well adapted for use as the alphabets of Europe. The number of its vowel characters is unnecessarily multiplied, by having separate marks for them when aspirated and not aspirated, instead of the simple contrivance of either a mark, as in the Greek alphabet, for the aspiration applicable to all, or a separate letter, as in the alphabets of Europe. In the consonants, likewise, the adoption of separate characters for each, w hen immediately followed by an aspiration, gives corn plexity, without possessing any advantage over the method in our European alphabets of denoting such sounds, by subjoining the h when necessary. The San scrit alphabet, on the other hand, seems deficient in having no characters either single or complex, to ex press the', or the th, for the aspirated consonants are not in Sanscrit pronounced with the aspirate as one sound ; but the two are kept separate in pronunciation, as with us, the oh, in the word abhor, the th, in hot house, the ph, in loophole. But our information in re gard to this language is as yet too limited to enable us to ascertain properly the merits and defects of either its grammar or alphabet.
The other Oriental alphabets require no particular ob servations. All of them, as already mentioned, seem formed originally from the Sanscrit, though in some of them a few of the superfluous characters have been dropped as unnecessary. In Plate XII, as many Indian alphabets are given, as will serve to convey a general idea of their nature and structure. The Pali, or sacred
characters being in fact contrivances for secret and mysterious writings, the illustration of them does not be long properly to the present article.
Having thus at considerable length taken a view of the history of alphabetic writing in different countries, and among different people, it only remains now to offer a few observations on the requisites and proper construc tion of alphabets in general, which will afford an opportu nity of noticing the defects in our own alphabet, with the schemes proposed for removing their.
Letters, it was remarked, in the beginning of the ar ticle, are marks for denoting the simple elementary sounds occurring in the language to which they are ap plied ; and the alphabet of a language is the assemblage of these letters in their usual established order. It fol lows, therefore, that to constitute a complete alphabet, there ought, in the first place, to be a character for each elementary sound ; and no character superfluous. Com pound sounds ought to have no place there, but should be expressed by the combination of the simple sounds of which they are composed. On the other hand, every established and sanctioned elementary sound occurring in the language, ought to have a separate character in variably appropriated to it ; though accidental or pro vincial variations ought not to be regarded. It is, how ever, no easy matter to ascertain the number of elemen tary sounds that naturally belong to the human organs, or into which a language is- capable of being resolved. On this subject a great diversity of opinion has prevailed. The learned author of Hermes informs us, that "to about 20 plain elementary sounds we owe that variety of articulate voices, which have been sufficient to ex plain the sentiments of such an innumerable multitude of all the past and present generations of men." (Herm. Book. iii. c. 2.) The ingenious Wachter (Nature et Scripture Concordia, p. 64.) endeavours to show, that ten characters only are sufficient for this purpose. His scheme is as follows : This excessn,e simplification of the nunib r of dis tinct and articulate sounds, the learned bishop Wilkins Theodore BibHander is of opinion, that all sounds, both articulate and inarticulate, may be sufficiently expressed by 13 letters and an aspiration, viz. the five ordinary vowels, and the consonants, b, g, d, 1, 777, n, r, s. (De ratione communi oinnium linguarum.).