422 GIBBS' PHONETIC ALPHABET. 



G. GIBBS' ORTHOGRAPHY.* 



VOWELS. 



a as. long m father, and short in German hat (nearly as in English what). 



e as long in they (" long a " in face), short in met. 



i as long in marine, short in pin. 



o as long in go, short in home, whole (as generally pronounced in the 



Northern States). 

 u as long in rule (oo in fool), short in full (oo in good), u as in union, 



pure, &c, to be written yu. 

 a as in all (aw, au in bawl, taught). 

 a as in fat. 



u as in but (o in love, oo in blood). 

 ai as in aisle (" long i" in pine). 

 au as ow in wow, cm in loud. 



The distinction of long and short vowels to be noted, as far as possi- 

 * ble, by the division into syllables, joining a following consonant to a short 

 vowel, and leaving the vowel open if long. Where this is insufficient, or 

 where greater distinctness is desirable, a horizontal mark above, to indicate 

 a long vowel, a curved mark a short one, thus : a, a, e, e, &c. A nasal 

 syllable, like those found so commonly in French, to be marked by an 

 index, n, at the upper right-hand corner of the vowel ; thus o n , aJ 1 , a n , u n , will 

 represent the sounds of the French on, an or en, in, and un, respectively. 



CONSONANTS. 



b as in English blab. 



c not to be used excepting in the compound ch; write k for the hard 



sound, s for the soft, 

 d as in English did. 

 f as in English fife. 

 g as in English gig, never for the soft sound, as in ginger ; for this use 



always j. 

 h as in English hoiv, hoe, handle. 



* Instructions for Research Relative to the Ethnology and Philology of America, by George Gibbs ; 

 Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, No. 160 (1863), pp. 18, 19. 



