x A L P H A B E T. 



man (in the former, j, in the latter, ch), the Greek chi (x) naturally suggested itself; it 

 has, however, been somewhat altered, for greater convenience in writing, and, as here 

 used (/) approaches to the ordinary x, which had formerly, in Spanish, the same sound 

 as the,;'. For the soft guttural (the German g between two vowels), the Greek gamma, 

 which has this sound in the modern language, has been adopted, but with a different 

 capital (C). The nasal #, as heard in the word singing, is of frequent occurrence in 

 the Oceanic dialects, and is met with as often at the beginning, as in the middle of 

 words. For this element a peculiar character (g), compounded of the two English 

 letters, has been adopted. 



The introduction of these letters has been rendered necessary by the principle on 

 which the alphabet is constructed, and could not have been avoided without great incon- 

 venience and the use of many diacritical points. It is possible that characters preferable, 

 in some respects, to those selected, might be suggested. These, however, have been 

 tested by use, and found sufficient for their purpose. And it should be remembered that 

 any new characters whatsoever must, at first, from their very strangeness, have an 

 uncouth and somewhat repulsive appearance. 



4. The combinations of these characters will be readily understood. The sound of ou 

 in loud, is expressed, of course, by au ; that of i in pine by ai ; that of u in pure by iu, 

 &c. 2J stands for the sound of ch in church ; dj for that ofj and dg \n judge. 2>/ is 

 a combination of very frequent occurrence in the Indian and South-African languages. 

 It is not so difficult as it may appear at first sight, being merely a tl pronounced in the 

 side of the mouth, with a strong impulsion of the breath. 



5. The only diacritical marks employed are the usual signs of quantity, (") and ("), 

 and the acute accent ('). The first two are used for distinguishing two shades of sound 

 in each of the vowels. A is pronounced as in part, and a as in pat; e as a in mate, 

 and i as in met; i as in machine, and t as in pin ; 6 as in the English word note, and 

 6 as in the same word in French ; u as oo in pool, and u as in putt ; & as a in hall, and 

 4 as a in what, or o in not ; a as u in murmur, or nearly as the French eu, and & as u 

 in mutter. These marks are rarely applied except to the vowels of accented syllables, 

 that is, of those syllables on which the stress of voice falls. Thus, in one of the Austra- 

 lian dialects, mugin means blind, and mugin, musquito; in both words the accent or 

 emphasis, is on the last syllable. The unaccented vowels are rarely sufficiently distinct 

 to require this discrimination. The same, moreover, is frequently the case even with the 

 emphasized vowel, which sometimes has a medium sound, neither long nor short,* and 

 sometimes is indifferently pronounced with either quantity. In such cases, the oblique 

 mark (') is employed to denote the syllable on which the accent or emphasis should be 



* These shades in the vowel sounds might be as properly designated by the terms broad and slender, 

 or open and close, ;is by those here used. The names, however, are unimportant, provided the distinction 

 be rightly understood. 



