102 Timehri. 



Is not this a French misconception ? The English o should not be slurred 

 into do. There should be no contraction of the lips, even in singing 



Likewise the argument adduce' in paragraph 4 on page 91 of 

 " Timehri," is i pen to question. It d es not in the least follow that learned 

 geographers, nor even those who can speak several languages, are qualified 

 to devise a scientific script, nor is a thing right b c >use many people con- 

 sider it to be so. And were the Royal Geographical Society to adopt 

 diacritical marks as the result of its present consideratijns this priuciple 

 would be illustrated forcibly. 



I plead that this or thit " authority" shall not decide the issue ; but 

 that right principles shall be sought and adopted. 



A splendid opportuni'y offers of adopting a phonetic and scientific 

 script, in which one sign shall represent one sound and each sound shall 

 o? represented by its own sign. (For this purpose a character with a 

 diacritical mark shall be regarded as one sign.) 



Had I continued at the Mission, I sh >uld have willingly adopted the 

 ionqr-vowel pronunciation for a, e, i, o, u, written without marks, did 

 Father Cary-Elwes agree to use the breve to indicate short- vowels. 

 Thus the use of the macron would have been avoided. 



In order to make plain the script used by me — which is that of 

 English Pronouncing Dictionaries — I give the following list of vowels 

 and their signs 



a (ah) 



a (aye) 



6 (ee) 



I (eye) 



5 (oh; 

 Q (you) 

 a (<t) 



e (pet) 

 I (pit) 



6 (pot) 

 u (but) 



00 (hoo') 

 do (font) 

 aw (awe) 

 u (e French) 



i and u are of course diphthongs. The pure E lglish a (as in bade) 

 is not a diphthong, as may be shewn by the correct English pronuncia- 

 tion! of Mary. In played y follows a and gives a slur. 



It will be noted that in the script adopted by me there were no 

 unnecessary consonan'.s. c is unnecessary : k and s serve instead, q. also, 

 is not needed, nor is x. On the other hand I did not write c for ch (as 

 in the musical term concerto) z for t (as in mezzo) (Italian) nor eau for o 

 (French). 



