4 ORTHOEPY AND ORTIIOGRAPny. 



§ 5. The vowels are either piu'e or nasal. Nasalization is indicated by the 

 character q ; as, daq, to polish ; suq, to sleep. 

 § 6. We may here observe : 



1. That the sound of e' after 'kp' is more open and liquid than usual. 



2. That ' a,' ' i,' and ' o,' are short before a consonant ; as in ate, a liat ; ile, a 

 house ; ofa, an arrow ; pronounced as if written atte, ille, offa. But to this rule 

 there is one exception, viz. when the tone is grave, these vowels are always long ; 

 as, 4bo, a shelter ; imo, hiowledge ; 5ro, a toord. 



§ Y. In the Egba and some other dialects, 'o' long, when followed by 'q,' and 

 occasionally when preceded by 'm' or 'n,' takes the sound of 'u' long; as, toq, 

 again; mo, to drinh ; ino, within; pronounced, and sometimes written, tui), mu, inii. 



DipJithmigs. 



§ 8. The following are the compound vowels, or diphthongs : 



ai, pronounced like i in pine^ or y in fiy^ only it is longer and more open. 



Ex. : bai, thns ; aimo, wihnown. 

 au, pronounced like on in house, or oio in uoio. Ex.: daudu, a prince, 

 ei, ei, oi, oi, in all of which the second vowel, ' i,' is very short. Ex. : ei-di, a 



vmrt ; (A-ye, ahird; oi-hb, a white 7nan; 'ko\-\.o\, timidly. 

 ua, ue, ue, ui, uo, uo, are formed only by the union of two words, the former of 



which ends in ' ku ' ; as in akuale, good evening, from aku, a word of 



salutation, and ale, evening. In all these cases the letters ' ku ' have the 



force of (pit in English. 



Quantity of Vowels. 



§ 9. The vowels are either long or short, as" exemplified in the following sen- 

 tence : Srlafi^ ki 6 wa fii gb6gb6 enia rere, peace he unto all good men. 



§ 10. Although it is not possible to lay down rules by which to determine the 

 quantity of vowels in all cases, yet there are several facts and general principles 

 a knowledge of which will be useful. 



1. In regard to long vowels: 



a. The diphthongs ' ai ' and ' au ' are always long ; as, aimo, miknwon ; daudu, a 

 2)rince. 



b. Vowels having the grave tone (except i, 6, and o, negative) are generally long ; 

 as, ^bo, a shelter ; ere, gain; ibi, evil ; odo, timter ; oi'o, a word. 



G. The vowels ' o ' and ' a,' when employed as auxiliary particles in conjugating 

 the verb, are long ; as, emi 6 ri, / shall see, emi li j\ ri, / am seen. These, for the 

 sake of distinction, are marked with a circumflex accent. 



d. The final vowel of a noun is long when followed l)y a personal pronoun in the 

 possessive case ; as, iwe mi, my hook ; aso re, his cloth. 



e. When a letter or syllable is suppressed or elided, the vowel which imme- 

 diately preceded it becomes long ; as, bale, a governor, contracted from oba ile, the 

 lord of the land ; axini, patience, from se (often pronounced se), to do, and ii'u, the 

 act of hearing a hnrden (see § 16, 3) ; aba foi- abara, a slap tvith the hand. 



2. In regard to short vowels: 



