Page:A handbook of the Cornish language; Chiefly in its latest stages with some account of its history and literature.djvu/85

66 4. th (written ꞇ by Lhuyd) is sounded as th in thin, thick, etc., the Welsh th, the Old English and Icelandic þ, the Greek θ. At the end of a syllable, especially after r, the sounds of dh and th are very light and tend to become inaudible, and are often represented by h, or omitted altogether. Thus, gwartha, porth, barth, lowarth, gordhya, gortheb, kerdh often appear as gwarha, gwarra, por, barh, lowar, lowarh, gorria, gorreb, kerr. Thus also, Porthgwartha (in St. Levan), is now written Porthgwarrah and pronounced nearly Pergworra.

5. gh is used at the end of words for the strong or guttural h. Lhuyd writes a Greek χ for this sound.

6. ng (written by Lhuyd with an inverted Irish g) has the sound of ng in singer, not as in finger or manger.

7. sh has the same sound as in English. It is only used in a few words of English derivation.

8. In wh the h is always sounded. This combination represents the Welsh chw. Lhuyd writes it hu.

9. zh has the broader sound of sh, or that of the French j.

10. In gwl, gwr, qwr, wl, wr there is a very light but quite audible sound of w before the l or r. So light is the w that it was often omitted in the MSS. Thus gwlasketh, kingdom, gwrîg, did, and the mutation wrîg were sometimes written glasketh, grîg, rîg. But this was incorrect.

There must have been among Cornish speakers a tendency to a somewhat blurred sound of certain letters, as though there were an obstruction of some sort in their vocal organs, not altogether unlike that attributed