4 ORTHOEPY AND OKTHOGKAPHT, 



§ 5. The vowels are either pure or nasal. Nasalization is indicated by the 

 character q ; as, dai), to polish, ; siiq, to deq>. 

 § 6. We may here observe : 



1. That the sound of ' e ' after ' kp ' is more open and liquid than usual. 



2. That 'a,' 'i,' and *o,' are short before a consonant; as in ate, a hat; ile, a 

 house ; ofa, an arrow ; pronounced as if written atte, ille, offa. But to this rule 

 there is one exception, viz. when the tone is grave, these vowels are always long ; 

 as, 4bo, a shelter ; imo, hnowledge ; 5ro, a word. 



§ Y. In the Egba and some other dialects, 'o' long, when followed by 'q,' and 

 occasionally when preceded by 'm' or 'n,' takes the sound of 'u' long; as, toq, 

 ogam; mo, to drinh ; in6, within ; pronounced, and sometimes written, tui), mu, imi. 



Diphthongs. 



§ 8. The following are the compound vowels, or diphthongs : 



ai, pronounced like i in phie, or y in fly^ only it is longer and more open. 



Ex. ; bai, thus ; aim5, vmJcnown. 

 au, pronounced like ou in house., or ow in 7iow. Ex.: daudu, a prince, 

 ei, ei, oi, oi, in all of which the second vowel, ' i,' is very short. Ex. : ei-di, a 



wart ; ei-ye, a bird ; oi-b6, a white man; koi-koi, timidly. 

 ua, ue, ue, ui, uo, uo, are formed only by the union of two words, the former of 



which ends in ' ku ' ; as in akuale, good evening., from aku, a word of 



salutation, and ale, evening. In all these cases the lettei*s ' ku ' have the 



force of qu in English. 



Quantity of Yowels. 



§ 9. The vowels are either long or short, as exemplified in the following sen- 

 tence : ^lafi^ ki o wa fu gb6gb6 enia rere, peaxie he unto all good men. 



§ 10. Although it is not possible to lay down rules by which to determine the 

 quantity of vowels in all cases, yet there are several facts and general principles 

 a knowledge of which will be useful. 



1. In regard to long vowels: 



a. The diphthongs ' ai ' and ' au ' are always long ; as, aimS, unhnown / daudu, a 

 prince. 



h. Vowels having the grave tone (except i, 6, and 5, negative) are generally long ; 

 as, ^bo, a shelter ; hve, gain ; ibi, evil ; odo, vmter ; 6ro, a wm'd. 



c. The vowels ' o ' and ' a,' when employed as auxiliary particles in conjugating 

 the verb, are long ; as, emi 6 ri, I shall see^ emi li a ri, I am seen. These, for the 

 sake of distinction, are marked with a circumflex accent. 



d. The final vowel of a noun is long when followed by a personal pronoun in the 

 possessive case ; as, iwe mi, my hook ; aso r^, his cloth. 



e. When a letter or syllable is suppressed or elided, the vowel which imme- 

 diately preceded it becomes long ; as, bal^, a governor, contracted from oba ile, the 

 lord of the land ; suru, ^Mtie nee, from se (often pronounced se), to do, and iru, the 

 act of hearing a hurden (see § 16, 3) ; aba for abara, a slap with tlie hand. 



2. In regard to short vowels : 



