a Tribe of Coffers oh the East of the Cape Colony. 67 



Remark. The i of b, p, t, g, k, v, z, and li, is short; 

 e off, s, 1, ni, and n, is short ; e of w, y, and c, is sounded 

 as the English slender a ; u of q and r, is long ; i of x is long. 



The only diphthongal sound in Caffrarian is au, which is the 

 aw or ow of the English words howl and hour. Examples : 

 paula, gaula, idauwa, isitauwa, Uauka, gauka, laula, hlaula. 



Of the sound of the letters: — 



1st. Of the Vowtls: — A, a, has the open sound of a, in the 

 English; as in fancy, glass. Examples: bala, imbabala, 

 palaza, afafa, ikaka. 



E, e, has two sonnds: one of these is the sound of slender a, 

 in the English ; as in make, mane, face. Examples: nmenzie, 

 idebe, ibele, izele. The other is the sound of short e, in the 

 English, as in debt, bed, tell. Examples ; betcla, peta, teta, 

 senga, yenza. 



I, i, is long or shoi't ; long i has the sound of ea, ee, or cy, 

 in tea, see, key. Examples: idikidiki, ipimpi, isipitipiti, 

 isibibilili. Short i has the sound of i in sin, fin, dim. 



I, of the nominal characteristics im and in, and the first of 

 isi and izi, are commonly short. Examples: imbiza, impofu, 

 ingubo, inkonio, isibonda, isihoko, izidanga, izilonda. 



O, 0, has the sound of o in the English words bone, cone : 

 Ubobo, isibobo, umboko. 



U, u, is long or short ; long u has the sound of u in rule ; 

 or of 00 in boot, cool : Justu, ishushu. Short u has the sound 

 of u in dumb, snm, sun. Examples : umti, uniga, umqa, 

 iiumhla, umoxa. 



U is short only, but not always, before m, and n, of its own 

 syllable. 



[Short i and u should be marked as such.] 



2nd. Of the Consonants : — B has the sound which it obtaius 

 in other languages: Boba, ubibi, ibiba, bumba. 



D has one unvaried sound ; as death, din, duda, idada, 

 udada, indoda, dada, udade. 



F has one unvaried sound, as fee, fat. Faka, ufefe, ufafa, 

 uinfondini, umfula. 



G has uniformly the sound of g hard in English, as gone, get. 

 Guga, ugaga, igugu. 



H has always the same sound, as in him, ham, hint. Ham- 

 ba, ihobe, uhadi. 



K has always the sound of k, or of c hard in English, as 

 keep, kill, can, call. 



L has unifftrmly the liquid soft sound, as in other languages: 

 Lola, lala, ilula. 



M has the s<iund of m, in murmur, monument. (This eon- 



