OETHOGEAPHY EMPLOYED IN THESE VOCABULARIES. 



Roughly speaking, all Consonants are sounded as in English and all Voivels as in 



Italian or Forticguese. 



a sounds as 'a' in 'master,' a as "u' in 



'but' 

 a sounds as ' a' in ' rather.' 

 e „ ' e ' „ ' met,' ' berry.' 



e „ ' a ' „ ' cake,' ' plate.' 



i „ 'i' „ 'hit," fill.' 



I „ 'i' » ' ravine,' or 'ee' in 'feet.' 



o „ 'o' ,, 'not,' 'bother.' 



„ ' o ' „ ' store,' or ' aw ' in 



' bawl.' 

 <» (Greek ' omega ') sounds as ' o ' in ' bone,' 



'cold.' 

 u sounds as ' u ' in ' full,' ' put.' 



u sounds as 'u ' in ' rule,' or ' oo ' in 'fool.' 

 u sounds like the French 'u' or German 



'ii.' 

 o sounds like the German ' 6,' or like ' u ' 



in ' hurt,' or ' i ' in ' dirt.' 

 ai sounds like ' i ' in ' wine,' or ' i ' in ' bite.' 

 au sounds like ' ow ' in ' how.' 

 ea sounds like ' ea ' in ' bear,' or ' e ' in. 



' there,' or ' a ' in ' care.' 

 ei sounds like ' ei ' in ' vein,' or " ey ' im 



'grey.' 

 oi sounds like 'oi' in 'join,' or 'oy' in 



'boy.' 



Among the consonants, b, d,f, h,j, h, I, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, to, y, and z are sounded as- 

 in English ; c only is used for the English ' ch ' ; g is always pronounced hard, as in 

 ' get,' ' give ' ; n represents the nasal ' n ' in ' bang,' ' singer,' and ' ringing ' ; g is only- 

 used for the strong Arabic ' kof ' ; hw represents the sound of ' qu ' ; the Greek gamma 

 r, y, represents the guttural gh, the Arabic £ (ghain) ; S = the faucal gasp of the- 

 Arabic 'ain ; the Greek x represents kh, the Arabic C, the German and Scotch ch ; 

 h' gives the strong Arabic aspirate of C (double h); ? is the English sh ; ?, z in ' azure ' 

 or French y, S A gives the sound of th in ' this ' ; T t the sound of th in ' think,' 

 ' bath.' p cl is the Arabic l>. R r is the cerebral r. ' shows where the accent falls :: 

 in the absence of any mark the accent falls on the penultimate syllable. A long vowel 

 is marked by -, and nasalisation by -. When ^ and % or other terminal consonants- 

 are thus crossed through it means they are only half pronounced. Many terminal' 

 consonants in Acholi, Bari, and other Nilotic tongues are not exploded, just as happen* 

 with the " silent kaf " in Malay (in Terak, Sardwa^). The Masai is very nasal, and has-- 

 a very strong o (aw) sound. The Baamba attach ' e ' to the ends of nouns constantly. 

 In Nandi t is sometimes indistinguishable from p. In Bambute the grave and acute 



accents over the syllables convey the low ^i^ and high ±- sounds. PI. stands for 



phiral. In the Bantu languages the alternative plural prefix is often given without 

 the root, which is the same as in the singular. Thus: Ente might be 'cow' in the 

 singular. The addition of JSsi- for the plural would mean that Esiente was the full 

 plural form of the word. " Muntu ; pi. Ba- " would stand for " Muntu = one man ; 

 Bantu = men," -ntu being the root for " human being." cJ stands for masculine ;. 

 ? for feminine. 



901 



