Johann Conrad Amman

“ Thence I learned, that that common belief, (that so soon as Hearing is restored to Deaf Persons, they will speak) to be false, for it seems not to me, that there is so great a consent betwixt the Organs of Voice, and of Hearing, that at the first blush they can imitate a Voice that is heard; but by often imitating a Voice or Breath received from another, and also by hearing their own at the same time, we find at length a likeness between both, and after this manner we all learn to speak; for he who learns to speak, it is all one, as if he did learn some other Art ”

“ But let (I pray) these Men consider, what it is that Men rightly Instituted would have, whilst they mutually talk one with another; for they desire to open the most inward Recesses of the Heart, yea, and to transfuse their own proper Life into others, which thing cannot be more commodiously done, than by Speaking; for there is nothing which floweth forth from us, which carrieth with it a more vivid Character of the Life, than our Voice doth; yea, in the Voice is the Breath of Life, part of which passeth into the Voice ”

“ When the Vowels and Semi-vowels are well inculcated into them, the Consonants are learnt without any trouble almost, for they are a Simple and Mute Breath, coming forth, either successively, or suddenly, according to the various Openings of the Mouth, and only with putting the Hand to the Mouth almost, they may all easily be learned.
[h] is the most simple of all, nor is it any thing else but Air, which is breathed out thicker, and more swiftly. ”

“ I shall now treat of the Letters especially, and will examine them so, as both the absolute Simplicity of the German Letters may be manifested; and other Nations, from their Mode of Formation, may learn, how they ought to pronounce them; upon this account also, I shall add how improperly some Nations do render the same Letters in their own Language. Now in this Explication I shall observe the same order as I did in the Division of them, where readily it will appear, that Voice and Breath are according to a triple Region of the Mouth, triply figured or formed spontaneously. ”

“ If I gain their Voice, which for the most part I do at the first time, I soon learn them to pronounce Vowels, viz. I bid them so to moderate the opening of their Mouth, whilst they do form a Voice in their Throat, as I have said above, concerning the Formation of the Vowels; but that they may do that the more easily, I hold a Looking-Glass to them, because they cannot from Sight alone imitate those diverse Motions of the Jaws, of the Tongue, and of the Lips, unless they had oftentimes tried it before a Looking-Glass. ”

“ Wherefore, before I treat of the manner of instructing Deaf Persons, I shall bring into examination, First, the material part of the Letters, viz. Voice and Breath; Secondly, the Letters themselves, and their Differences: Thirdly, and Lastly, I will teach the Practise of the Art.
I have oftentimes heard from some Persons, that it was little beneath a Miracle, that God should give Men, to express the Thoughts of the Mind, rather by Motions, which are effected by the Lips, the Tongue, the Teeth, &c. ”

“ The other kind of Consonants are explosive; which, viz. are discharged at one push, and as it were, in the twinkling of an Eye and are nothing else but Breath, which being got close together, either in the fore, middle, or hinder Region of the Mouth, is discharged on a suddain; and (k) is indeed formed in the hinder Region, when the hinder part of the Tongue is moved to the Roof, that the Breath cannot break forth, neither by the Mouth, nor by the Nose, but is suddenly let loose again: For thus the imprisoned Breath breaks out, and by breaking out, maketh k. ”

“ To those who observe well, it will from this order alone, appear, that I have divided this whole Alphabet into Vowels, Semi-vowels, and Consonants. The Vowels are a Voice or Sound modified by a various opening of the Mouth only, and are either Simple, or Uniform, as a. e. i. j. y. o. u. w. Or else they are mixt, which out of two, do so melt down into one, as that they are pronounced together, and are different from Diphthongs, in as much as their Vowels are successively pronounced: Now these mixt Vowels, are ä. ö. ü. which some Nations either have not at all, or else do write them evilly ”

“ Hence it is, that sometimes we are not able to keep back the impetuous Motions of the Affections; but out of the abundance of the Heart, the Mouth speaketh. Thus, when we desire something in our selves, and yet are afraid to express it, the Heart labours like a Woman with Child, and becomes Anxious ”

“ It is no wonder therefore, if Voice be natural to a Man, though he be Deaf, because Deaf Men Laugh, Cry out, Hollow, Weep, Sigh, and Waile, and express the chief Motions of the Mind, by the Voice which is to an Observant Hearer, various, yea, they hardly ever signifie any thing by Signs, but they mix with it some Sound or Voice. ”

“ Men ordinarily speak after two manner of ways, viz. either when they may be heard by any one, who is not too far distant from them, and that is properly call'd Voice; or else, when they speak privately in another's Ear, and then they pronounce a Breath which is simple, but not Sonorous. Deaf Men also do know a Voice to be different from a Simple Breath ”

“ Now the Simple Breath is Air, breathed forth by the opening of the Mouth or Nostrils, simply, and without any smiting on the parts, which rather exciteth a whispering than a sound. Hence is it, that Animals, whose Wind-pipe is cut beneath the Throat, do indeed render a Breathing, but no Voice; for the Tube of the Wind-pipe is too large, and too smooth, than that the Air can strike upon it any where ”

“ The first thing which I require in the Person I am to teach, is, that he be of a docible Wit, and not too young of age; than that the Organs of Speech be rightly constituted in him; for stupid Persons are capable of no Teaching, whose Age is yet too tender; nor do they mind enough, nor know how Teaching will be for their Use and Benefit; but those whose Organs of Speech are altogether unfit, they may learn indeed to understand others when they speak, and discover their own Mind by Writing ”

“ But, besides that the Sight doth not give place to the Hearing, as to a quick sensibility, I affirm, that there is no need thereof, if once they have made but any Progress; for even we our selves do very often not hear in Pronunciation those Letters which I call Consonants, but we collect them from the Vowels and Semi-vowels, commixed together with them: No Man, for Example, shall so pronounce b. ”

“ However, I humbly beseech you, that him whom you have begun to love, yea, though he be removed far from you, that you will persist still therein, and to take upon your self as need shall require it, the Patronage of the Truth it self. ”

“ Nor is the state of the Consonants in better case for the Pronunciation of some of them, is so very different, that there are scarce two Nations, which pronounce the Character [g] after the same manner.
But in the German Alphabet, that which most disliketh me, is, their Order; which, in good truth, is none; because scarce two Letters of the same rank do follow mutually after one another, which would render the information of Deaf Persons to be so much the more difficult ”

“ The holding of a Candle to the Sun is not more absurd, than thus to present you with an English Version of a Latin Treatise. All who know you, know you to be Masters of not only most of the European, but also of the Learned Languages. ”

“ The other Nasalls [u] and [ng] have nothing peculiar, unless it be that I shew the Deaf the posture of the Tongue in a Looking-Glass, and put their Hand to my Nose, whereby they may be sensible, that there comes forth thorough the Nostrils a Sounding Breath. ”

“ This trembling is very perceptible in most sounding Bodies, and is (if I mistake not) owing for the most part to the Springiness of the Air; which, did I not study to be brief, I could more fully explicate. ”

“ I heartily wish that they may so make use of this my labour, as that for the future, no more Dumb Persons may be found.
In the number of these doubting Persons, you have confessed to me, that you your self had formerly been, until you had heard a certain Maiden, who before had been Dumb, talking with me at Amsterdam ”