No. 5.— 1850.] 



THE ELU LANGUAGE. 



253 



In fact, the short vowels, q, <g>, £>, and ®, are rendered 

 long thus : <sp, (or &), S, and cD. Each of the twenty 

 consonants, sa, go, d, 0, €), 33, ®, c3, <5, 



e), es, 3D, (9, except ° (some of which are otherwise written 

 to produce corresponding aspirate sounds, but which are 

 not here reckoned), may be so expressed as to produce all 

 the sounds of the vowels, both long and short. Thus, take, 

 e. g.) the first consonant It contains the sound of q. 

 Render it s9, it produces the sound <g> ; render it it 

 produces ; render it it produces 3; render it @>S5>3 3 

 it produces e£>. So likewise are the five long vowel sounds 

 produced by rendering £S5 into 25)3, sq, ©ssf, ©sad*. The 

 other consonants may in like manner be varied, except the 

 last o, which, being immutable, and having no vowel sound 

 associated with it, cannot be uttered without the help of a 

 vowel sound, and it is usually expressed in the alphabet with 

 the first vowel, thus, q?o. The nineteen consonants thus 

 produce ten times nineteen, or one hundred and ninety 

 sounds. Add to this number the unchangeable consonant ° 

 and the ten vowels, and we then have two hundred and one, 

 the total number of sounds which compose the Sinhalese 

 alphabet. These, according to the author of the " Sidat- 

 sangarawa," are all the symbols which are necessary for a 

 correct expression of the Elu ; yet we find two letters or 

 sounds exclusively Elu which are not included by the 

 grammarian in the above number. They are q z and 

 and are the vowels by whose assistance the changeable 

 nineteen consonants are rendered ss>i and ; <&>i ca^, &c. 

 Thus, by adding qji and and twice nineteen consonant 



° The general use of this gutteral sound mast here be explained, 

 since there is another dental, 33, having the same sound. ^ is used 

 after 6 or ea, thus: ead<«5so "feet"; "Buddha." But where 



the d or C53 is not in the same syllable with 45so, the dental should be 

 used, as in gjdsad "gods and men," and "last name." 



