1856.] Grammar of the Thadou or new Kookie language. 179 



As there is no written character among the Kookies, the following 

 Eoman ones have been adopted by me, which appear to answer very 

 fairly all the requirements of the language. 



Vowels. 



a e i o u 



Consonants. 



bcdfghjklmnprstvwyz 



The vowels have a long and a short sound thus : — 



a as in father. 



a as in man 



e there. 



e men 



i pok'ce. 



i pni. 



6 note. 



o not. 



u pall. 



u bat. 



oo as in moon, soon. 



When two vowels come together each has its distinct sound, ai, 

 as in a^'sle, ei, as in mite, ui, like we, &c. 



The Consonants are pronounced as in English with the following 

 modifications : — 



C, is never used by itself, or in any other position except in com- 

 bination with H, to express the sound, ch as in Church. 



G, is always hard. H, is always aspirated. 



J, has a sound much softer than in English, and resembling more 

 that of the combination of the letters zsh. N, is slightly nasal. 



W and Y, have no vowel sound. 



The compound consonants are — 



Ch, pronounced as the ch in Church. 



Gh, Persian « ghain. 



Gn, an intensely nasal sound. 



Kh, pronounced as the Persian £• hhe. 



Ng, ng in "singing," but when over-lined thus 



ng, still more nasal. 



Sh, pronounced as the Persian ^ shin. 



Aeticles. 



There is no article, definite or indefinite, in the language, the 

 numeral khut, one, coming after the noun, sometimes stands in lieu 

 of the indefinite article, and the demonstrative pronouns, Hi, this } 

 and Hu, that, sometimes supply their place. 



