ASPIRATION

ASPIRATION, the Act of aspirating, i.e., of pronouncing any Syllable, or Word, strongly; with a good deal of Breath, and Vehemence. See ASPERARE and PRONUNCIATION. This we do, for instance, in those Words which have the Letter H, before them; as Harangue, Hook, Holland, Hero, etc. whereas the like Syllables are sounded much softer and easier without the H, as in Ear, Eat, etc. See H. The Aspirate, by the Greeks called Spiritus, and marked over their Vowels, seems to be very different from the Letters; but is, nevertheless, a true Letter, as well as the rest, and a real Consonant—By Letters we don't mean the Characters of the Alphabet, which are changeable according to the Languages and the People, and among the same People, according to Time and Custom; and even according to the Fancy of particular Persons.—Thus, some, for instance, write the Aspirates, or Letters aspirated; which, by others, are omitted; though both the one and the other pronounce alike; as in Huomo, Huomini, an Italian Word frequently written uomo, uomini. See ALPHABET. But, by Letters, we mean articulate Sounds, formed by the Organs of Speech, (viz.) The Throat, Mouth, Tongue, Palate, Teeth, etc. See LETTER and VOICE. These Sounds are of two Kinds, the one simple, and the other compound, or modified.—Simple, are those pronounced by a single Motion of the Organ; such are the Vowels. See VOWEL. Compound Sounds, are those same simple Sounds modified by a Motion of the Organ superadded to the Motion necessary to pronounce the simple Sound; of which Kind are the Consonants. See CONSONANT. Now an Aspirate is an Effect or Consequence of a Motion made by some of the Organs of Speech; and therefore must either be a Vowel or a Consonant.—The former it cannot be, as not being a simple Sound, or a Sound that may be pronounced by itself. It must therefore be a Modificative, or Consonant; and in Effect it has all the Properties of one. For, if, it results from a Motion of the Organ, which, of itself, produces no Sound. Thus the Spiritus of the Greeks, our H aspirate, as well as that of the French, and other People, has no more Sound of itself than B, C, D, etc. and the same Thing may be observed of the Aleph, Hheth, and Caph, of the Eastern Languages.
2ndly, On the contrary, our H, the Spiritus of the Greeks, and the other Aspirates just mentioned, are pronounced with all the Vowels, in the same manner as Consonants are.— They modify those Vowels, and are Effects of a Motion of the Organ superadded to the Motion necessary to form the Vowel. ‘Thus, to pronounce Ba, two Motions of the Organ are required as well as for Ba, or Ca, etc. One for A which itself is a Sound; the other for H, which yields no Sound, no more than Z; but adds something to A which modifies it, and makes that Ba is not mere A, nor Ba, nor Ca, etc. And this must hold still more sensibly in the stronger Aspirates, as those of the Oriental Tongues ح, حف, حب, etc.
In all which, there are evidently two Motions, the one for the Vowel, and the other to modify it: Now this being the Nature and Essence of a Consonant, it follows, that let them be denoted in what Manner they will, whether as our H, as the Orientals do, i.e. by proper Characters in the Course of the Words themselves; or, as the Greeks do some of theirs, by a Sign of Aspiration placed over the Vowel; it matters not. The Aspirate is no less a Consonant in ἄπο, than in οὐρανός; in دان, than in دان. The third and last Reason is, that the Eastern Languages, which do not express the Vowels, do yet express the Aspirates.
Add, that the Aspirate is frequently changed into a Consonant, and expressed by a Consonant Thus, of تارا is made Septem; of تموز, Pefperus, etc. Of the Hebrew שם, שמי and thence שמים, etc.



Nay, even in the same Language, Hesiod, speaking of Hercules's Buckler, uses "Ηρσυν" for "θήρσυν"; making no Difference between an θ and an Aspirate.
See CONSONANT.

Hence it evidently follows, that Aspirates are real Consonants; and that it must be an Error to rank ע,מ, ה א , of the Eastern Languages, among the Vowels; and to exclude the A in ours, out of the Number of Letters.

ה

ASPIRATION