Page:A handbook of the Cornish language; Chiefly in its latest stages with some account of its history and literature.djvu/73

 CHAPTER I

SPELLING AND PRONUNCIATION

§ 1.

In simple Cornish words of more than one syllable the stress accent is generally, though not universally, on the last but one. The vowel of this syllable has usually its plain, clear long or short sound. The vowels of the unaccented syllables are usually obscure in the case of two of the broad vowels (a, o), and short in the case of the thin vowels (e, i, y) and of u, unless they are combinations of two vowels, in which case they are always long; but e in a final unaccented syllable is also generally obscure. The obscure vowel is the sound of u in the English word until, or o in London, and there is very little, if any, difference in sound between the obscure a,e,o, and u. When this sound occurs, as it occasionally does, on an accented syllable, or anywhere where it might be mistaken for a plain sound, it is written, according to the spelling of this book, ă, ĕ, or ŭ.

In words of one syllable ending in a consonant the vowel is generally to be taken as short, unless it is marked long (â, ê, î, ô, û, ŷ), or is a combination of two vowels. In monosyllables ending in a vowel, that vowel usually has its long sound, but as Cornish is largely accented in ordinary conversation by sentences (as is the case in Gaelic, and to a considerable extent in English), 54