I907] MATHEWS— LANGUAGE OF THE BIRDHAWAL TRIBE. 349 



of a word our English sound of d and t seldom occurs ; it is gener- 

 ally pronounced dh or th, in the way just explained. 



A final h is guttural, resembling ch in the German word " joch." 



Y at the commencement of a word or syllable preserves its 

 habitual sound. 



R in general has a whirring sound, at other times it is rolled, and 

 occasionally the English value is assigned to it. 



T is interchangeable with d, p with h, and g with k, in most of 

 the words in which these letters are used. 



Ty or dy at the commencement of a syllable or word has nearly 

 the sound of the English ; or Spanish ch, thus -dya in the word 

 wom-ba-dya, closely resembles cha or ja. 



Some native words terminate with ty, as hrety, the hand. This 

 word can be pronounced exactly by assuming e to be added to the 

 final y, making it hret-ye. Then commence articulating this word, 

 including the y, but stopping short without sounding the added e. 

 An approximate pronunciation can also be obtained by substituting 

 ch for the y, making it bretch, but omitting the final hissing sound 

 when pronouncing it. In some of the words in the vocabulary I 

 have given the terminal letters tch instead of ty, as being more easily 

 mastered by lay readers. 



In order to express the native sound of some words, I have used 

 the initial letters zvr and fur. The word wruk, the ground or earth, 

 can be got exactly by making it zvu-ruk' , and then pronouncing it 

 as one syllable, with the accent on the last letter. Wring, the ear, 

 can be similarly articulated. Mring, the eye, can be pronounced by 

 making it mu-ring' , and treating it as one syllable. Mrety or 

 mretch, fire, can be pronounced in the same way. 



Articles. 



The indefinite article, "a," is not represented; but the demon- 

 strative pronouns, in their numerous modifications, supply the place 

 of the difinite article, '' the/' The adverbs " here " and " there," 

 in their several native forms are treated as demonstratives, and are 

 then substitutes for the definite article. Many of them are subject 

 to inflection for person and number, and some have causative 

 suffixes. 



