502 
APPENDIX. 
On the Alphabet. 
The Roman character has been introduced, and is found per¬ 
fectly adequate to express, with simplicity and perspicuity, all 
the sounds in the language. The English alphabet has been 
adopted, omitting C, Q, U, W, X, and altering the power of 
J, by pronouncing it as dz. The vowels are pronounced as in 
French. C is expressed either by s or k; Q, by ko; U, by 
the letters io, pronounced rapidly, and almost as a diphthong 
W and X have no corresponding sounds in the language. 
Should the above letters occur in foreign names introduced 
into the Malagasy language, others of an equivalent power are 
employed to express them, by which process they become, if 
not agreeable to the eye of an European, yet euphonic in the 
ear of a native: as, for Caesar, Kaisara; Quince, Kiontsy ; 
Ulysses, Iolisisy; Watts, Oatsy; and Maximilian, Makisi- 
miliana. 
Changes of Letters. 
Numerous changes of letters (consonants) take place, gratia 
euphonise, e. g. 
f changes into p after m 
h — — k — n and sometimes into g 
1 — — d — n 
t — — d — n 
v — — b — m 
v — — d — n 
z — — j — n 
nr assumes d , and becomes ndr , and t is inserted after n before 
s, as in sivy (intsivy) nine times; azon-t-sampona, hindered : 
a final is frequently changed into y , when in regimine; and 
then the article ny may with propriety be omitted before pro¬ 
per names, but not in other cases ; as, 
Ny vokatra . becomes ny vokatry ny vavany 
Ny molotra-ny molotry ny olona 
Andriamanitra-Andriamanitry i Abirahama. 
On Syllabification. 
Excepting in the cases above specified, where certain con¬ 
sonants can follow each other, every consonant must be suc¬ 
ceeded by a vowel. Hence the syllables usually consist of a 
consonant and a vowel, and a vowel must always terminate the 
