Page:The nomads of the Balkans, an account of life and customs among the Vlachs of Northern Pindus (1914).djvu/3



n writing Vlach phonetically we have used as simple an alphabet as possible and endeavoured to avoid the use of diacritical marks. The symbols used are to be pronounced as follows: —


 * a, e, i and u as in German,
 * o as a closed o as in the French côte,
 * oa as an open sound as in the French bois,
 * ea to resemble the Italian ia in words such as pianta,
 * ai as in the English i as in mice,
 * ei as the English ay in play,
 * ao and au as the German au,
 * ĭ and ŭ as whispered sounds, the latter like a half uttered English w,
 * ă like the English er in better, while ā is a vowel sound peculiar to Roumanian and its dialects which cannot be described,
 * p and b as in English,
 * t and d as in English,
 * g as the hard English g as in gape, k as the hard English c in care, y as in yacht, gh (the Greek y) like the g in North German words such as Tage, h like the Scottish ch in loch,
 * m and n as in English and ǹ as the English n in finger,
 * l as in English and r as in Scottish,
 * f and v as in English, th (the Greek θ) as the th in thorough, dh (the Greek δ) as th in then,
 * s and z as in English, sh as in English and zh as the z in azure, tsh like the English ch in church, and dzh like the English j,