Page:A simplified grammar of the Danish language.djvu/22

10 and in Swedish. Among such rules we may instance the following, which were adopted by the Danish and Norwegian delegates to promote this end:—

1. To avoid the doubling of the vowel wherever it was not required on etymological grounds, and to indicate the necessary lengthening, or accentuation, by the substitution of some other vowel, or by an accent or mark, such as has been in use in Sweden for more than three centuries. Thus double aa was to be replaced by å, as Båd, for Baad, 'boat'.

2. Double e and i were to be represented by the single unaccented vowel in such words as at se, 'to see,' (instead of at see); spiste, 'ate,' (instead of spiiste). E when it followed j was to be replaced by æ, as Hjælpe, 'help,' (instead of Hjelpe). Æ was also to replace e before g where the latter had the hard sound, as Æg, 'edge of knife,' (instead of Eg); but where the g has the j sound before n, the e should be retained, as Regn, 'rain.'

3. When the e is mute it is to be rejected, as in döe, 'to die,' boe, 'to dwell;' and here it may be observed that excepting in these, and a few analogous cases, final e is always pronounced, although with a grave accent only, as Rose (Rosè), 'rose.'

4. It was recommended on the part of the Danish delegates at the Congress to retain the distinctive vowels ö and ø, the former being used for the opener sound of the letter. Their Norwegian colleagues preferred, however, like the Swedes, not to distinguish the letter by two marks; and it was agreed that if Danish writers would consent to