The selection of a number of such signs representing initial syllables of words is termed a syllabary. Its formation occurred when all, or a greater part, of the unions of single consonants with vowel sounds in a language had received each its phonetic and characteristic sign and was thus used independently of any previous signification of the word from which it was derived. Selections of these signs could be used almost as the alphabet is used to form words. That they were not entirely depended upon by many intelligent nations that possessed a syllabary is one of the curiosities in the history of written speech. The influence of the syllabaries which developed under different conditions in various languages is an exceedingly interesting study, sometimes so increasing the simplicities of written speech as to nearly approach the powers of the alphabet; again, increasing the extraordinary complexities writing had assumed at the syllabic stage. Thus these syllabaries have been at once the despair and the illumination of scholars, who, attempting to decipher these unknown characters as letters, could make nothing of them, but when finally recognizing their syllabic values, a wonderful period in the history of letters was revealed. Syllabic systems, wherever found, are a study of special significance; so nearly alphabetic, yet so remote; always suggesting the greater simplicities to be, and yet so oblivious of these simplicities. But one step further and alphabetism is at hand. Instead of the use of the sign for the phonetic power of the syllable, the use of this sign for the phonetic power of the letter was all that was necessary. To many nations such an advance was inconceivable. For this, the conception of the elementary sounds of which words are composed is necessary; the vowels and the consonants, the consonant being the chief power in this development. It has been suggested that this advance when reached was the result of the prominence of the consonant in the syllable. For instance, the phonetic power of the consonant in the syllables sa, se, si, so, su, is constant while the vowels are variable. The consonants thus appeared to be the substantial elements of words while the vowels were complementary and inconstant. In this way the sign for the syllable came finally to be the sign for the consonant, with the vowel understood. In confirmation of this we find that the first appearance of alphabetic writing—that is where letters only are used for the formation of words—was consonant writing. The earliest, nearest approach to a pure alphabet, was an alphabet of consonants. The Semitic languages differ from all other idioms in structure. The original roots of Semitic words are tri-consonantal, consisting of three consonants.