112 PECULIARITIES OF LANGUAGE. 



Allowing for the limited intelligence of the Cossack, 

 the stupidity of the Mongol, and the suspicion of the 

 Tangutan, some idea may be formed of our difficul- 

 ties in studying the language. Now and then, while 

 speaking with a native, an opportunity would present 

 itself of jotting down a few words unobserved ; but 

 progress under these circumstances, in a language so 

 entirely strange to Europeans, was almost hopeless. 



The Tangutans have a way of pronouncing their 

 words very rapidly, and their language is character- 

 ised by the following particulars : — 



A large number of monosyllabic \vords pronounced 

 abruptly : e.g. tok (lightning), ksih (water), rtsa 

 (grass), ksia (hair). 



The union of several consonants : e.g. 7ndzugeheh 

 (fingers), nd7nrtsah (year), rdzcwah (month), Idmrton- 

 lamd (paradise). 



Vowels at the end of words are often lengthened 

 out : pchi-i (mule), sha-a (meat), tzia-a (tea), veh-6 -ё 

 (husband), siya-a (hat) ; or in the middle of words : 

 sdazyiiyit (earth), ddoa (tobacco.) ^ 



The final n is often drawn out and pronounced 

 through the nose : lii'i{g) (wind), shan[g) (forest), 

 su1bcken[g) (brook) ; words ending in m have an 

 abrupt sound, as in laui (road), oiidm (thunder). 

 The letter g at the beginning of a word is pro- 

 nounced like the Latin /i : Jioma (milk) ; k is some- 

 tinics aspirated and pronounced as kJi : khi'ka (range), 

 diudkJmk (tobacco-pouch) ; c/i like tscJi : tscho (dog) ; 



' Is this not the Hindi dluai, smoke, showing whence tobacco was 

 introduced into Tibet ? — Y. 



