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Indian Languages in JSTovth America. 3S9 



■ 



place iu the languages of the continental nations of Eurnj)e 

 11 those nations (I speak in general terms, without nolicin 





f 



accciils 



--af 



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and other slight modifications of the fundamental sounds) preserve 

 what may he called, in a general view of the suhject, a uniform 

 pronimciatiou of the vowels ; a pronunciation, which is generally 

 supposed to have been handed down io our own times, in con- 

 junction with the letters themselves, from the Romans. I have 



-jfl- 



ahvays thought, therefore, that it would he best to adopt as the 



i 



lasis of our Indian orthography, what we call the foreign sounds 

 of all the vowels ; that is, the sounds which are usually given to 

 them by those European nations, with whom we have much inter- 

 course by books or otherwise, and who, like ourselves, use the m 



r=. 



Moman alphabet in their own languages. I speak with these 

 limitations, because my object is merely ^^rach'caZ ; and, for all 

 practical purposes, it will for some timelo comel)e best l^coufine*. 

 our views to the family of nations I have here mentioned, and 

 to adopt an ortkographt/, which, though it may not be philosoph- 

 ically exact, shall be attended with the least embarrassment to 

 them and ourselves in the common use of it. We can hereafter 

 either modify that orthography, or adopt a new one, as our ex- 

 tended intercourse with other families of nationt* may be found 

 to require. 



1 



la conformity with this view of the subject, tlie general pro 



'n 



of the vowels will be as follows :• 



a as in father 

 e as in there 



..I*" 



C 



# •** i as in machine Cor like eej 



* 



as in note 

 u as in rule 



y as in you (or like ee.J 



jT 



St^- 



m 



#. 



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J 



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