652 



PHILOLOGY. 



" The g," says Febres, " has a very singular pronunciation, and is of such frequent 

 occurrence that it may be considered characteristic of this language. It is pronounced in 

 the innermost part of the mouth, opening it a little, and touching the point of the tongue 

 to the lower gum." He then compares it to the n in the Latin word sancti/s, and in the 

 Catalonian tinch, sanch. In the pronunciation of the native at Carmen, this element 

 had the sound of the ng in our words singer, hang, which is represented in this volume 

 by the character y. 



Another peculiar sound is the th, so written by Febres, because his printer had no 

 types of the letter t with a diacritical mark. " This sound," he says, " is produced by 

 touching the point of the tongue to the roof of the mouth." As we heard it, the sound 

 seemed to be that of t followed by an r not trilled, and so slightly touched as to be hardly 

 audible as a distinct element. It was a little softer than that which we generally give to 

 this combination in the words try, treason, and the like. 



The only other sound which the Spanish grammarian notices as peculiar, is one which 

 he designates by u with a grave accent (ii). In pronouncing it he observes that " the lips 

 are held a little open and without motion." This we found to be the French eu in peur, 

 or, more exactly, our own u in purr, which we have denoted by the character u. 



Bearing in mind these differences in orthography, the resemblance, or rather identity, 

 in the following lists, will be evident. In the Araucanian, the n and U have the Spanish 

 pronunciation (ny and ly). It should also be noticed that, according to Febres, the natives 

 are accustomed to interchange certain letters, as il and i, o and u, v and/, and it would 

 appear that their enunciation is, in general, rather indistinct. 



ARAUCANO. CH1LF.NO. 



until anto sun 



cHyen kien moon 



huaglen wayilen star 



co ko water 



c'Hthal kulrale fire 



hunthu huentru man 



domo Qamo woman 



chao tgau father 



nuque nyuke mother 



pineh pinye child 



ge ye eye 



yu iu nose 



u-Hn ofin mouth 



voro ford teeth 



payum baivrun beard 



pel pel neck 



cHu kowd arm 



chagidl tgd-gilya finger 



ptinohue ponmve foot 



pinque pinke heart 



quine kinye one 



epu epu two 



cida kela three 



