THE KISAWAHILI TOXGUE. 



451 



generally mispronounced by the Arabs, and these 

 are mostly of little importance. The dialect is 

 easily learned : many foreigners who cannot 

 speak understand, after a short residence, what 

 is spoken to them. It may be said to have no 

 accent, but a sinking or dropping of the 

 voice at the terminal syllable — possibly the 

 case with Latin hexameters and pentameters — 

 seems to place the ictus upon the penulti- 



with the thickened tongue-tip. Strangers write indifferently 

 Doruma and Toruma, Taita and Daida. 



3. G — harder and more guttural than ours, the tongue 

 root being applied thickened to the soft palate. An instance 

 is Gombe, a large cow (Gnombe), which Arabs and Europeans 

 pronounce Gombe, meaning a shell. Incrementation is also 

 effected by simplifying the initial sound, as Gu, a large foot, 

 from Mgu ; Dege, a large bird, from Kdege. 



4. J — a semi-liquid : the J is erpressed by applying 

 the fore part of the tongue to the palate, above the incisors 

 closely followed by a half-articulated T. It is often confounded 

 with D and T, e. g. Unguja, TTn^uya, and "Cngudya, for 

 TTngujya (not ITguya, as 3Ir Cooley believes), and Yambeho 

 or Jambeho for Jyambeho. The sound is not ' peculiarly 

 African it exists in Sindi and other tongues, and a likeness 

 to it occurs at the junction of English words, as 'pledge you/ 

 Even the Arabs distinguish it from their common Jim, and 

 it is well worth the conscientious student's attention. 



5. K — half G. a hardened sound whilst the mid tongue 

 is still applied to the palate. It might be taken for a corruption 

 of the Arabic Kaf (J). 



At Mombasah we shall remark other sounds mostly peculiar 

 to the coast Kisawahiii. As a rule, however, the stranger will be 

 understood even before his tougue has mastered these minutiae. 



