348 MATHEWS— LANGUAGE OF THE BIRDHAWAL TRIBE. [October 4 



thirteen consonants, namely: h, d, g, h, k, I, m, n, p, r, t, zv, y, and 

 five vowels : a, e, i, 0, u. 



As far as possible, vowels are unmarked, but in some instances, 

 to prevent ambiguity, the long sound of a, e, 1, o and u are given as 

 here represented. Where the short sound of these vowels was 

 otherwise doubtful, they are marked thus : a, e, 6 and u. 



It is frequently difficult to distinguish between the short sound of 

 a and that of u. A thick sound of i is occasionally met with, which 

 closely resembles the short sound of u or a. 



B has an intermediate pronunciation between its proper sonant 

 sound and the surd sound of p. The two letters are practically 

 interchangeable. 



G is hard in all cases, and often has the sound of k, with which it 

 is generally interchangeable. 



W, when it commences a syllable or word, has its ordinary English 

 sound. The sound of wh in our word " what " has no equivalent 

 in the native tongue. When W occurs in the middle or at the end 

 of a syllable, it is pronounced as in the English words " pawn " and 

 " law " respectively. 



Ng at the beginning of a word or syllable has a peculiar nasal 

 sound as in the English word " singer." If we alter the syllabifica- 

 tion of this word and write it '' si-nger," then the ng of " -nger " 

 will represent the aboriginal sound. Or if we take the expression 

 " hang up " and change it into " ha-ngup," and then pronounce it 

 so that the two syllables melt into each other, the ng of "-ngup " 

 will also be the sound required. At the end of a syllable, ng has the 



sound of ng in king. 



« 



The sound of the Spanish n frequently occurs. At the beginning 

 of a word or syllable it is given as ny, but when terminating a word 

 the Spanish letter fi is used. 



Dh is pronounced nearly as th in " that," with a slight sound of d 

 preceding it. Nh has likewise nearly the sound of th in that, with a 

 perceptible initial sound of the n. 



Th is frequently used at the commencement of a word instead of 

 dhj and in such cases an initial t sound is substituted for that of 

 the d. Dh and th are generally interchangeable. At the beginning 



