EXPOSITION OF THE SYLLABIC DACTYLOLOGY. The alphabet can be used either with one hand or with two, and will either spell words literatim, by groups of letters or by whole syllables. In several cases, two syllables can be expressed by one movement. The number of independent positions and movements is little more than thirty, so that the labor of learning this alphabet in the first place, is hardly greater than that of learning the common manual alphabet, and it is capable of keeping pace with a rapid speaker with ease, after sufficient practice, as the reader may judge, after examining the explanations here given. When one hand is employed, the hand is held up with the palm towards the person spoken to, just as with the common one handed alphabet. When two hands are employed, it is necessary to attend to the positions of the hands, that one hand may not obstruct the view of the other. In general, the best way is to hold the hands rather down in front, so that the palms are upwards and the fingers forwards, and for the most part sloping a little downwards; but the best position, in different syllables will vary somewhat. Practice will soon show which is the best, and habit will make the best position of the hands as familiar as the proper position of the fingers. The principle on which the alphabet has been formed, has been to reject altogether the awkward and far-fetched imitations of the printed forms of letters on which the common alphabets have been formed, and to select such positions as can best be combined in syllables, according to the most common order of letters in English syllables. This plan was found to admit of mnemonic contrivances to make it more easy to remember the letters, and such contrivances have been resorted to whenever they could be conveniently introduced. We will begin with the vowels. 1. Vowels. As in the English two-handed alphabet, the five digits represent the five vowels in their order. These, when one hand is employed, are formed by holding up that digit, the others being shut. Thus, holding up the thumb represents A; the middle finger, I; the little finger, U. When both hands are employed, the little finger of the right hand points out the vowels on the left. In case of a dipthong, one vowel is marked by a finger of one hand, and the other by the other hand, as will be hereafter explained. There is another mode of making the vowels, used with one hand for all the vowels, with both hands for the final e and y, by a movement of the hands after the letters are formed. A movement to the left marks e, if prolonged, ee; to the right i; prolonged, y; upwards, u; prolonged, w; backwards, a; forwards, o; prolonged, oo. To which may be added a movement sloping downward to the left, for ed; sloping downward to the right for ing; a serpentine motion for s in the plural of nouns, and singular of verbs; sloping upwards to the right for er. These movements are in short, stenographic characters figured in the air, to denote final letters, the initial letters remaining formed on the hand or hands during the movement. Other such movements can be added, if desirable, e.g., a circular movement for ion. A dipthong, it will be seen, may be denoted on this plan by two successive movements. 2. Consonants. S, being always the first letter when present in an initial combination of consonants, is formed by bending the joint of the thumb. B, P, D, T, V, F, G, K, M, N, are pointed out by the thumb, the first four on the fore finger, the next four on the middle finger, the last two on the ring finger. To those who know the distinction of labials, dentals, and gutturals, it will be an aid to the memory to recollect that the labials B, P, V, F, have their place on the last joint of the finger, the others on the first joint. B is distinguished from P. by being pointed out by the ball of the thumb, while P is by the nail; and a like distinction is made between D and T, V and F, G and K. This, it will be seen, admits of the thumb being readily bent to mark when S precedes P, T, K, whereas it cannot be readily bent in forming B, D and G, which do not take S before them. These letters are formed in a manner presenting some little analogy with the corresponding articulations, which will not only be a help to the memory of those who can speak, but serve to give the deaf and dumb some idea of the different sorts of letters. C, H and L, are formed by half bending a finger, the fore-finger for C, the middle-finger for H, the ring-finger for L, so arranged, because, in combinations, L comes last, and C next to S, as in chloroform, school. R is formed by entwining any two fingers that may be disengaged, generally the middle and ring-finger. Z, Y and W, are formed by bending fingers close to the palm; the fore-finger for Z, (because it is figured by the fore-finger in the common alphabet,) the middle-finger for Y, (because I and Y are akin,) and the ring-finger for W, (because OO and W are akin.) X is the common one-handed alphabet. Qu, taken as one letter, (because Q is never used without U,) are formed by doubling the fore-finger and middle-finger, with the thumb pressed over them, but when S precedes, as in square, the thumb is bent, which brings it under the fingers. J is formed by doubling the middle finger, as in Y, and pressing the thumb close along side of it, (because J was formerly called I consonant.) |