Moreover, this element, secondary in its significative value, primary in its formal consistence, is not itself an isolated syllable, like a sort of constant root; it is a system of modifications of which the various segments are interdependent: the letter does not signify the second person in the way that the letter, according to Court de belin, signified breathing, life, and existence; it is the totality of the modifications, that gives the verbal root the values of the first, second, and third person.