Page:A handbook of the Cornish language; Chiefly in its latest stages with some account of its history and literature.djvu/80

Rh this e mute at the present day, and when the preceding vowel is a, educated persons generally give it the sound of the English long a in mane, but that is a change analogous to the modern vulgarism of pronouncing clerk as clurk instead of clark. The proper sound of the Cornish â is still heard in such words in the mouths of the peasantry. Compare such a name as Polglaze in the two pronunciations.

§ 3.

Simple: b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, y, z.

Compound: bm, ch, dh, dn, gw, gh, ng, qw',sh, th, wk, zh, gwl, gwr, 'qwr, wl, wr.

A. Simple consonants.

1. b has the same sound as in English.

2. c is always hard, being used only before a,o, u. The same sound before e, i, y is represented by k.

3. d before a, o, u is usually hard, as in English, but, as in Gaelic, before e, i, y it has a sound approaching to j, or like di in soldier. In the MSS. a soft g was often written for d in such cases. It is a common change in many languages. Cf. the Italian oggi, to-day, for the Latin hodie.

4. f has the same sound as in English. In the MSS. it is often confused with v. As a final it is very lightly sounded.

5. g is always hard, as in get, go. The soft g, as in gin, is here represented by j, but in the MSS. g was often used for it.

6. h has two degrees of sound. As an initial it is rather more lightly sounded than in English, except when it is a mutation of c (see Chapter II.), when it is more strongly sounded. Then, and when it occurs in the middle of a word, it represents in a lighter