Vocabularies of Liberian and other African Languages 



ORTHOGRAPHY EMPLOYED IN THESE 

 VOCABULARIES 



a or d. 

 d 

 ce 



eore . 

 e. 

 i . 



sounds as ' u ' in ' fund ' or < a ' in ' Bella.' 



a' ,, 'rather.' 4 



; a ' , , ' fat. 5 



: e ' , , ' met,' ' berry,' ' lessen.' 

 a' ,, ' cake,' ' plate.' 

 'i' ,, 'hit,' 'fill.' 

 i ' ,, ' ravine,' or ' ee ' in * feet.' 

 'o' ,, 'not,' ' bother.' 



" store,' or ' aw ' in ' bawl.' 

 bone,' ' cold.' w is a shorter sound, 

 full,' 'put.' 



rule,' or ' oo ' in ' fool.' 

 like the French ' u ' or German ' ii.' 



the German ' 6,' or like ' u ' in ' hurt,' or ' i ' in ' dirt.' 

 i ' in ' wine,' or ' i ' in ' bite.' 



' in ' how.' 



ea' in ' bear,' or s e ' in ' there,' ' a ' in ' care.' 

 ei ' in ' vein,' or ' ey ' in ' grey.' 

 ' oi' in 'join,' or ' oy ' in 'boy.' 



Among the consonants, b, d, f, h, /, k, /, ;//, ;/, /, r, s, t, v, w, y, and z are sounded as in 

 English ; c only is used for the English ' ch ' ; g is always pronounced hard, as in ' get,' ' give ' ; 

 n represents the nasal 'n' in ' bang.' 'singer,' and 'ringing'; q is only used for the strong 

 Arabic 'kof ; kw represents the sound of ' qu ' ; x represents the guttural Scotch or German 

 'ch' or Spanish 'j ' ; 7 (Greek 'gamma') is the Arabic [sometimes expressed by 'gh' in 

 English like the German and Northumbrian ' r,' or the French ' r ' grass^yf\ ; and * the 

 Arabic [a gasping sound] ; s = English ' sh ' ; 0, 6 = English ' th.' and A, S = English 

 ' dh,' or ' th ' in ' there ' ; z represents the French ' j,' or the sound of ' z ' in ' azure.' Nasalisation 

 is marked by ~. ' shows where the accent falls ; in the absence of any mark the accent falls 

 on the penultimate syllable. 



In spelling the native or other African words [place names, tribal designations, etc.] in this 

 book the Author has conformed more or less exactly to the system approved by the Royal 

 Geographical Society, Indian Government, and leading Missionary Societies. But in rendering 

 the sounds of the native languages greater exactitude is necessary. The orthography given 

 above is practically that of Lepsius and of Earth, Koelle, and most transcribers of African 

 languages. 



VOL. II 



4 



