The Letter A (ah) - The Heart
[A] Upper and lower case "A" (ah) both get their shapes from our heart and usually
(nearly always) call our attention (our thoughts and feelings) to our heart or breathing.
"A" (ah) is the natural sound of our breath and sounds like "a" (ah) in "art" and "pa".
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Excerpts (Parts) From The Original "The New Alphabet"
Word Creation (Making Up Words)
The Natural (Normal) Rules (Laws) Of Word Creation (Making Up Words)
Now we are going to start through the alphabet one letter at a time and review (reread and relearn)
where each symbol's shape (letter drawing) came from and what it can mean, plus we will also begin to see how
the letters were linked (hooked) together to create (make up) the chains (links) of meanings (ideas) that we call
words. At first, please try to accept (agree with) what I am showing you as you begin to understand (know
about) the basic (first simple) ideas, even though you might not be certain (sure) of every individual (single)
point (idea). Before long, the naturalness (what we all usually do) of what you are learning (reading about) will
cause you to realize (understand) that you are as much of an expert (a person who knows a lot) as anyone is,
when it comes to learning (reading) about our language (letters and words). That is because human's (people's)
bodies contain (have) all but one of the natural (normal) alphabet sounds ("d" the world), and speaking (saying)
them correctly (the right way) is as natural (normal) as breathing.
Although (even tho) originally (at first) each sound's meaning (the basic idea it means) was simply the
sound itself, over time human (people's) experience (things we do) caused most of the letters to be used at least
three different (not the same) ways to create (make up) words. As a result (because) of this, many of our words
have more than one meaning (idea it can mean). Here is a list of the three most common (the ones we use the
most) ways that the letter "b" is used, to help you begin to understand (know all about) the ideas that a letter can
represent (mean) in our language (letters and words).
1 - A letter can mean the part of the body that it gets its shape from, or a physical (body) function
(movement) of the body part.
Example: "B" can mean "the back", or it can mean to "bend" the back.
2 - A letter can be used for a basic (simple) meaning (idea) (some of the letters have two or more).
Example: "B" the back, usually (nearly always) means behind the body physically (in back of the
body), or it can mean before (back in time).
3 - A letter can be used graphically (like a drawing) for its shape.
Example: "B" the back, is used in "beaver" because a beaver's shape is similar to (like) the upper case
letter "B" turned on its side. "Bee" and "bug" also use "B's" shape in the same way.
Note: What I have learned about the letters having more than one shape is explained in "The Other
Symbols", under "Upper And Lower Case Letters".
To help you learn more about our letter's meanings as you study the words in "The Alphabet", I follow
each letter in a word with a basic meaning [in brackets] that gives you a simple meaning of that letter (page 78
has a complete list (all) of the basic letter meanings). I also explain each letter's individual meaning (which is
underlined) in most of the words that you study, so you can easily skip over the basic meanings and read a letter
by letter definition (meaning) of any word. Finally, I usually (nearly always) add another sentence after "Or," to
help make the word’s meaning clearer.
Take a look at "heart" which is the first word we look at in this chapter, for an example.
Heart means: h [the hand] - my hand, e [the eyes] - I see, a (ah) [the heart] - on my "a" (ah) or heart, r
[the ear] - hear, t [the mouth] - it's talking (beating). Or, "heart" tells about feeling the heart beat with the hand.
All of the ideas that I am introducing (showing) to you will come up again and again as you study
(learn about) the words that I show you. I think you will find yourself (you) beginning (starting) to remember
(know from before) most of the letter's shapes and their meanings after you've seen each symbol (shape) used in
several (a few) words, without any special (extra) effort (work) to memorize (remember) them. I should also
mention (say) that since there were no rules (laws) when language (letters and words) first began to develop
(grow), the three ways I have shown you that the letters can be used might not be the only ways that they were
originally (first) used to create (make up) our words. However, these are the only usages (ways they are used)
that I have noticed (seen or heard) so far.
I hope the drawings I have created (drawn) make it easier for you to understand (learn about) what I've
discovered (found out) about our alphabet. Not being an artist (real good at art) may have worked to my
advantage (good luck) in drawing the letter shapes, because when I finally got around to researching (studying)
what others had to say about how our languages (words) were created (made up), the only similarity (ways they
were alike) that I noticed (understood as I read) between what the scholars (best teachers) had to say and what I
had discovered (learned) about our alphabet by listening to (hearing) Jomy, was that one of the pictures (photos)
of an early human's (person's) drawing and my first simple letter drawing of "H" looked similar (sort of alike).
Fortunately (luckily), I had already figured out (learned about) several (a few) hundred (100) words as I
helped Jomy learn to talk, so I wasn't confused (mislead) by the different (not the same) theories (ideas) that I
read as I studied (read about) what others knew about our languages' (letters and words) origins (when and
where they started). The only idea that all of the books seemed to agree on, was that no one knew for certain
(sure) how the shapes of our letters were originally (in the beginning) created (made up). In my own study I
started with one clue (idea), which was that I had heard a Yoga (body and brain exercises from India) teacher
say the old Yogis thought "e" was the sound of the emotional (feelings) center near the eyes. The idea didn't
mean much to me until a year or so later when Jomy's clear baby "e" sounds seem to prove (tell me for sure)
that the old Yogis might be right. That was over fifteen (15) years ago, and I am still discovering (learning)
more about the sounds, the shapes and the meanings of our letters almost every day.
One more thing I should mention (tell about) before we begin looking at words is that the letter we are
studying (reading and learning about) may occur (show up) anywhere in the word we are learning about. In
other words, even though I tried to use as many words as possible (something we can do) that start with the
letter we are studying, sometimes we may study the letter "a" (ah) in a word that starts with "h" (like in the word
"Heart"), if that word gives us a good example (sample) of one of the ways that "a" (ah) was used by our
ancestors (people who lived on earth before us) to create (make up) words.
Now let's start going through (thru) our alphabet, so I can help you learn about each letter’s original
(first) meanings and the ancient (very old) art of word creation (making up words).
The Letter "A" (ah)
"A" (ah) which gets its shape from our heart, usually calls attention (our thoughts and feelings) to our
heart, to our breath, or may simply mean breathing. Pronounce "a" (ah) like it sounds in the word "art". Let's
start with the word "heart" where "a" (ah) calls our attention (our thoughts and feelings) to the heart and then
we'll take a look at the word "air" where "a" (ah) calls our attention to the sound of our breath.
Heart means: h [the hand] - my hand, e [the eyes] - I see, a (ah) [the heart] - on my "a" (ah) or heart, r
[the ear] - hear, t [the mouth] - it's talking (beating). Or, "heart" tells about feeling the heart beat with the hand.
Air means: a (ah) [the heart] – breathing in, i (eh) [the voice] - and out of the throat, r [the ear] - hear.
Or, "air" means to use your ears to hear the air going in and out of your lungs and throat as you breathe.