172 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. I. 



CHAPTER I. 



PHONETICS AND GRAPHIC SIGNS. 



And first a word concerning the D4n6 Alphabet. To be complete, it 

 should count — apart from reduplicated but phonetically unchanged 

 letters — no less than 60 graphic signs, 13 of which to represent vowels, 

 39 for simple and 8 for double consonants. 



The vowels are a, a, se, e, 6, e, i, i, o, 6, u, u, ii. They are all pro- 

 nounced as in French except cs which corresponds to the French e in j'e, 

 te, le ; /which is sounded as the e in the French word " mets" ; e as that 

 of the English "ten "; e and u which have the Italian and // the German 

 sound. The use of the latter is confined to a iew insignificant bands of 

 Aborigines who have made the Rocky Mountains their home. 



The 29 simple consonants are b, d, f, g, j\ k, x, k, /, /j in, n, n, N, p, q, q, r, 

 A, R, s, s, t, t, V, IV, y, z. They are all sounded as in English with the ex- 

 ception of the following : Ji is strongly aspirated ; j is pronounced as in 

 French ; u as in Spanish* ; N is nasal ; /" is a lingualo-sibilant which is 

 obtained by the emission of a hissing sound on both sides of the tongue 

 curved upwards previous to its striking the lingual letter ; r is the 

 result of uvular vibrations ; x and a are respectively k and r pronounced 

 with a very guttural inflection ; R is the common r of the Romance 

 languages, and is proper to a handful of Rocky Mountain Ddn^s ; q 

 corresponds to the hard c in the words '' ccenr, cure''' such as pronounced 

 by North-western Frenchmen : it can be described as approaching the 

 sound of ty both letters being consonants and sounded simultaneously. 

 The dot in /', /, q, adds to the regular pronunciation of those letters 

 the exploding sound peculiar to most Indian languages, s is pho- 

 netically intermediate between s and sJl. The /and its co-relative v are 

 found only in the speech of a {q\\ Eastern tribes. 



By double consonants I do not mean the mere succession or grouping 

 of two or more of the above letters retaining their original value as //, 

 kzv, kfw. I have in mind those consonants which, either are differently 

 pronounced when agglomerated, as ch, or represent sounds which, though 

 phonetically one, cannot be expressed by any of our consonants taken 

 separately. There are eight such double consonants : sh, c/i, th, kh, kr, 

 kr, ts and //. The first two are pronounced as in English ; th and kh are 

 equivalent to t^h and k^h but are produced by a single emission of voice- 



* It is proper to a few Northern D6nes. 



