WEST OF ENGLAND JOURNAL 



^(goifl^ei i^m® uru^/^r^m 



No. V. JANUARY, 1836. Vol. I. 



PART II.— LITERATURE. 



ESSAY TOWARDS A GRAMMAR OF THE BERBER LANGUAGE. 



BY F. \V. NEWMAN. 



In attempting to redeem the promise made in our third number, to give 

 some account of the Berber language, we have to contend with many diffi- 

 culties. If it were possible from twelve chapters of St. Luke* (our sole 

 source of information), to lay down all the details of a grammatical system ; 

 yet we should hardly expect to gain attention. Nor will our end be at- 

 tained, unless we can set something before the reader, which will enable 

 him to form some judgment for himself on the matter in hand. 



A difficulty also arises in the employment of European characters. The 

 Berber language has nearly the Arabic or Persian letters. It is necessary 

 for our present object to exhibit these in a form readily intelligible to our 

 readers : and after considering the various objections raised by the printer 

 against other devices, it seemed best to have recourse to the Greek alphabet. 



Attention then must be paid to the following system of consonants : 



B is as in Greek — or English th in thus. 



6 — or th in thing. 



y nearly as gh in Irish Drogheda. 



X almost as in Greek, being a strong wheezing h. 



X is rougher still, as in Spanish ; being the roughest German ch. 



y is a deep sounded k, formed at the root of the tongue. 



j is as in French. 



c is as English sh. 



T is Hebrew 10, a hard palatal t. 



a is Hebrew jf, a mouthing .?. 



• Extrait d'unc Traduction MS. en languc Berbere,. . .contenant XII. Chapitres de 

 St. Luc. A Londrcs ; aux frais de la Soci^t6 Biblique IJritannique ct Ktrangferc. 

 The character in which this is i)rintcd, is that of the Western Arabs, being a very 

 slight modification of the alphabet of the Kor^n. 



No. 5.— Vol. I. I* 



