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§§ 28, 29 sound; thus it is usual to divide can-u ‘to sing’ so, can being the stem and u the ending, instead of ca-nu, which is the true syllabic division. In the case of more than one written consonant the division is usually made to follow the sound; thus, can-nu ‘to whiten’, plen-tyn ‘a child’, the etymological division being cann-u, plent-yn. Ml. scribes divided a word anywhere, even in the middle of a digraph.

In this grammar syllabic division is indicated when required by | as above; and the hyphen is used to mark off the formative elements of words, which do not necessarily form separate syllables.

Diphthongs.

A diphthong consists of the combination in the same syllable of a sonantal with a consonantal vowel. When the sonantal element comes first the combination is a falling diphthong. When the consonantal element comes first it is a rising diphthong. “Diphthong” without modification will be understood to mean falling diphthong.

Falling Diphthongs.

i. In O. W. falling diphthongs had for their second element either i, front u, or back u. The O. W. diphthongs with their Ml. and Mn. developments are as follows:

(1) As i in O. W. represented both i and ɥ the exact value of the second element in O. W. ai, oi, ui cannot be fixed; but it was probably receding in the direction of ɥ. In w͡y it has remained ɥ. The former diphthongs are generally written ae and oe; but the spellings ay, oy are commonly met with in Early Ml. W., and sometimes in of the Mn. period; as guayt ‘blood’, coyt ‘timber’, mays ‘field’ 120; croyn ‘skin’  i. 24, mays do. 144; Yspayn ‘Spain’, teyrnassoyẟ ‘kingdoms’. In 118