Page:A dictionary of the Sunda language of Java.djvu/11

VI long u, of the Italians and Germans, the oe of the Dutch, the ou of the French, and the English oo in the words moon, stoop, soon. Above all it must not be confounded with the dipthongal sound of the English u in the words mute, acute, puny.

Diphthongs are ai, au, ĕu, oi or oy and ay.

Ai is sounded as the English long i in pike, line, mine; or in the French aile, baille, caillou. It is the same as in the Dutch interjection ai, and as heard in the first part of abjert, bajonet.

Au is pronounced like English ow, in how, cow, as jauh, bau, baur. And as Dutch auw in kauw, lauwcer.

Eu is of very frequent occurrence, but is not heard in Malay. It is also not an English sound, but approaches nearest to pewter, lewd, dew, deuteronomy, duke. It is a common Dutch sound as heard in peuteren, peul, beuren, beurs, beurt, and in French in tailleur, leur, fleur.

Oi is not of frequent occurrence and is pronounced as in English hoist, moist, choice, and French goītregoître [sic], royal. The ai and oi often assume the shape of ay and oy in the Composition of words when followed by another syllable or letter barai, to pay baraya, relations, poi, a day poyok, to jeerat.

It will be frequently found that two Similar vowels come together, separated by a hyphen—to show that they must each have a distinct sound. This cansesan hiatus which is of very frequent occurrence in the Sunda, as ba-al, sĕu-ĕur, ho-ok, ju-uh, dé-ét, ti-is.

Consonants. B is pronounced as in English and Dutch bend, bib, babble, Tub or bebloed, bek, bang.

C occurs only in ch which is pronounced as English church, chance, chest, torch, detached. The Dutch language does not contain this sound, and it is consequently represented by them by tj, which does not convey the Sound even according to the Dutch use of the letter, as j with them has the power of English y; It rather conveys the force of the French letters so applied. It is represented by the German Tsch.

D is pronounced as in English did, added, and in Dutch, dak, dood.

F occurs only rarely in words from the Arabic, when it has generally been converted into p, as f is a sound which the Malays, Javanese and SundaeseSundanese [sic] are unable to pronounce. Thus fikir to think, becomes pikir, fasal becomes pasal.

G is always hard as in game, gay, get, give, go, gun; and never soft as in gestūre, giant, wage, for which j is uniformly employed. Care must be taken to always sound this letter according to the examples here given, as it is by no means the gutteralguttural [sic] Dutch g in geld, geven, goot, nor the French g in gentil, genou, genre.

H is the aspirate, and may be pronounced as in the English words have, hold, high, and Dutch hard, haring, haver.

J is a character whose power in the English Alphabet is of great utility in expressing all oriental sounds, and is to be pronounced as in jury, justice, jew, also as dg in judge, pledge, lodging, and as g in gem, gentry, sage.