There are in human and articulate speech a number of first-beginnings admitting no further division which we call elements and letters: “letters” (γράμματα) because they are denoted by certain lines (γραμμαί), and “elements” (στοιχεῖα) because every sound made by the voice originates in these, and is ultimately resolvable into them. The elements and letters are not all of the same nature. Of the differences between them, the first is, as Aristoxenus the musician makes clear, that some represent vocal sounds, while others represent noises: the former being represented by the so-called “vowels,” the latter by all the other letters. A second difference is that some of the non-vowels by their nature give rise to some noise or other, — a whizzing, a hissing, a murmur, or suggestions of some such sounds, whereas others are devoid of all voice or noise and cannot be sounded by themselves. Hence some writers have called the latter “voiceless” (“mutes”), the others “semi-voiced” (“semi-vowels”). Those writers who make a threefold division of the first or elemental powers of the voice give the name of voiced (vowels) to all letters which can be uttered, either by themselves or together with others, and are self-sufficing; semi-vowels to all which are pronounced better in combination with vowels, worse and imperfectly when taken singly; mutes to all which by themselves admit of neither perfect nor half-perfect utterance, but are pronounced only in combination with others.
It is not easy to say exactly what the number of these elements is, and our predecessors also have felt much doubt upon the question. Some have held that there are only thirteen elements of speech all told, and that the rest are but combinations of these; others that there are more than even the twenty-four which we now recognize. The discussion of this point belongs more properly to grammar and prosody, or even, perhaps, to philosophy. It is enough for us to assume the elements of speech to be neither more nor less than twenty-four, and to specify the properties of each, beginning with the vowels.
These are seven in number: two short, viz. ε and ο; two long, viz. η and ω; and three common, viz. α, ι and υ. These last can be either long or short, and some call them “common,” as I have just done, others “variable.” All these sounds are produced from the windpipe, which resounds to the breath, while the mouth assumes a simple shape; the tongue takes no part in the process but remains at rest. But the long vowels, and those common vowels that are pronounced long, have an extended and continuous passage of breath, while those that are short or pronounced as short are uttered abruptly, with one burst of breath, the movement of the windpipe being but brief. Of these the strongest, which also produce the most pleasing sound, are the long ones and those common ones which are lengthened in utterance, the reason being that they are sounded for a long time, and do not cut short the tension of the breath. The short ones, or those pronounced short, are inferior, because they lack sonorousness and curtail the sound. Again, of the long vowels themselves the most euphonious is α, when prolonged; for it is pronounced with the mouth open to the fullest extent, and with the breath forced upwards to the palate. η holds the second place, inasmuch as it drives the sound down against the base of the tongue and not upwards, and the mouth is fairly open. Third comes ω: in pronouncing this the mouth is rounded, the lips are contracted, and the impact of the breath is on the edge of the mouth. Still inferior to this is υ; for, through a marked contraction taking place right round the lips, the sound is strangled and comes out thin. Last of all stands ι: for the impact of the breath is on the teeth as the mouth is slightly open and the lips do not clarify the sound. Of the short vowels none has beauty, but ο is less ugly than ε: for the former parts the lips better than the latter, and receives the impact more in the region of the windpipe.
So much for the nature of the vowels. The semi-vowels are as follows. They are eight in number, and five of them are simple, viz. λ, μ, ν, ρ, and σ, while three are double, viz. ζ, ξ, ψ. They are called double either because they are composite, receiving a distinctive sound through the coalescence respectively of σ and δ into ζ, of κ and σ into ξ, and of π and σ into ψ; or because they each occupy the room of two letters in the syllables where they are found. Of these semi-vowels, the double are superior to the single, since they are ampler than the others and seem to approximate more to perfect letters. The simple ones are inferior because their sounds are confined within smaller spaces. They are severally pronounced somewhat as follows: λ by the tongue rising to the palate, and by the windpipe helping the sound; μ by the mouth being closed tight by means of the lips, while the breath is divided and passes through the nostrils; ν by the tongue intercepting the current of the breath, and diverting the sound towards the nostrils; ρ by the tip of the tongue sending forth the breath in puffs and rising to the palate near the teeth; and σ by the entire tongue being carried up to the palate and by the breath passing between tongue and palate, and emitting, round about the teeth, a light, thin hissing. The sound of the three remaining semi-voiced letters is of a mixed character, being formed of one of the semi-voiced letters (σ) and three of the voiceless letters (δ, κ and π).
Such are the formations of the semi-vowels. They cannot all affect the sense of hearing in the same way. λ falls pleasurably on it, and is the sweetest of the semi-vowels; while ρ has a rough quality, and is the noblest of its class. The ear is affected in a sort of intermediate way by μ and ν, which are pronounced with nasal resonance, and produce sounds similar to those of a horn. σ is an unattractive, disagreeable letter, positively offensive when used to excess. A hiss seems a sound more suited to a brute beast than to a rational being. At all events, some of the ancients used it sparingly and guardedly.
There are writers who used actually to compose entire odes without a sigma. Pindar shows the same feeling when he writes: —
Ere then crept in the long-drawn dithyrambic song,
And san that rang false on the speaker’s tongue.
Of the three other letters which are called “double,” ζ falls more pleasurably on the ear than the others. For ξ and ψ give the hiss in combination with κ and π respectively, both of which letters are smooth, whereas ζ is softly rippled by the breath and is the noblest of its class. So much with regard to the semi-vowels.
Of the so-called “voiceless letters,” which are nine in number, three are smooth, three rough, and three between these. The smooth are κ, π, τ; the rough θ, φ, χ; the intermediate, β, γ, δ. They are severally pronounced as follows: three of them (π, θ, β) from the edge of the lips, when the mouth is compressed and the breath, being driven forward from the windpipe, breaks through the obstruction. Among these π is smooth, φ rough, and β comes between the two, being smoother than the latter and rougher than the former. This is one set of three mutes, all three spoken with a like configuration of our organs, but differing in smoothness and roughness. The next three are pronounced by the tongue being pressed hard against the extremity of the mouth near the upper teeth, then being blown back by the breath, and affording it an outlet downwards round the teeth. These differ in roughness and smoothness, τ being the smoothest of them, θ the roughest, and δ medial or common. This is the second set of three mutes. The three remaining mutes are spoken with the tongue rising to the palate near the throat, and the windpipe echoing to the breath. These, again, differ in no way from one another as regards formation; but κ is pronounced smoothly, χ roughly, γ moderately and between the two. Of these the best are those which are uttered with a full breath; next those with moderate breath; worst those with smooth breath, since they have their own force alone, while the rough letters have the breath also added, so that they are somewhere nearer perfection than the others.