INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 



As it has been found almost impossible to represent the correct sounds of the 

 Australasian languages by adhering to the rules of English orthography, these 

 rules have been necessarily laid aside, together with the signs of accentuation. 

 Double consonants are used to express emphasis, and double vowels to express 

 prolongation of the sound. People who are unacquainted with the difficulty of 

 communicating in writing the pronunciation and sound of foreign words may 

 cavil at the employment of so many double letters, but this mode has been 

 adopted, after very careful consideration, as the most suitable for the purpose. 



The following examples will fully illustrate what is meant. The English 

 word ' car ' would be ' kaar,' 'can ' would be ' kann,' ' rain ' would be ' rsefen,' 

 ' rainy ' would be ' vseienee' ' meat ' would be ' meet,' ' met ' would be ' mett,' 

 ' life ' would be ' liif,' ' live ' would be ' livv,' ' tome ' would be ' toom,' ' torn ' 

 would be ' tomm,' ' boot ' would be ' buut,' ' cut ' would be ' kutt,' ' one ' would be 

 ' wunn,' ' magpie ' would be ' magpii,' ' pussy cat ' would be ' puusEe katt.' The 

 k and g which appear before consonants in the syllables of many aboriginal 

 words represent sounds barely perceptible, yet indispensible to right pronunciation. 

 The nasal sound of ' gn ' or ' ng ' often occurs at the beginning of syllables in 

 the aboriginal languages. As it is found at the beginning of, and only occurs in 

 words like poignant and poignard, derived from a foreign source, it is somewhat 

 difficult for English people to pronounce it. Some sounds which lie beyond the 

 scope of the English alphabet are represented by the letters which come nearest 

 to them, so as to give an approximately correct idea of what is intended to be 

 conveyed. 



