Page:A grammar of the Teloogoo language.djvu/80

14, or to the ; thus nya, or  nya,  nyoo, or  nyoo,  nyoo, or  nyoo. The same rule applies if the subsequent vowel be long or  ō; but, when the vowel is joined to the  y, the latter form only is used, and the  of  being omitted, the  alone is affixed to the, the preceding  being written above the consonant; thus,  nyō,  nyō, or  nyō. In all other cases where or other double forms are used, the subsequent vowel is attached to the consonant only, never to the double form; thus,  rye, &c.

40. The consonants have two auxiliary signs, viz. r and n: the former is used to represent the letter  r, and the latter the letter  n, when these letters precede another consonant without the intervention of a vowel; but, though pronounced before the consonant,  r, is written after it; thus,  urkoondoo, the sun. The n also represents  n, at the end of a word; thus,  pōyen, he, she, or it went.

It is not difficult to communicate, to an English reader, the proper articulation of those Teloogoo characters, of which the pronunciation corresponds exactly with the familiar sound attached to some English letter; but it is scarcely possible to convey, in writing, a just conception of sounds altogether foreign to the ear. Grammar, by instructing us in the theory of a language, may enable us to read it with intelligence, and to write it with correctness; but no book can teach the practical use of a language, and the voice of an instructor is necessary, to communicate the full force and tone of a letter, representing some articulation altogether unknown to his pupil. A few concise rules, however, regarding the proper pronunciation of the most difficult Teloogoo letters, may assist the student; but, without the aid of a native instructor, they will fail to afford satisfactory information. I shall accordingly attempt to explain in the Roman character, the sound attached to each; and, in doing so, shall avail myself of the system of Dr. Gilchrist, not less because it is the best with which I am acquainted, than because most of those into whose hands this work