Conceding
This To Be A Partial Cause, I Would Rather Refer The Phenomenon To The
Habit Of Loud Speaking, Acquired By The Dwellers In Tents, And By Those
Who Live Much In The Open Air.
The Todas of the Neilgherry Hills have
given the soft Tamil all the harshness of Arabic, and he who hears them
calling to each other from the neighbouring peaks, can remark the
process of broadening vowel and gutturalising consonant.
On the other
hand, the Gallas and the Persians, also a mountain-people, but
inhabiting houses, speak comparatively soft tongues. The Cairenes
actually omit some of the harshest sounds of Arabia, turning Makass
into Ma’as, and Sakka into Sa’a. It is impossible to help remarking the
bellowing of the Badawi when he first enters a dwelling-place, and the
softening of the sound when he has become accustomed to speak within
walls. Moreover, it is to be observed there is a great difference of
articulation, not pronunciation, among the several Badawi clans. The
Benu Auf are recognised by their sharp, loud, and sudden speech, which
the citizens compare to the barking of dogs. The Benu Amr, on the
contrary, speak with a soft and drawling sound. The Hutaym, in addition
to other peculiarities, add a pleonastic “ah,” to soften the termination of
words, as A’atini hawajiyah, (for hawaiji), “Give me my clothes.”
[FN#36] The Germans have returned for inspiration to the old Eastern
source. Ruckert was guided by Jalal al-Din to the fountains of Sufyism.
And even the French have of late made an inroad into Teutonic mysticism
successfully enough to have astonished Racine and horrified La Harpe.
[FN#37] This, however, does not prevent the language becoming
optionally most precise in meaning; hence its high philosophical
character.
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