Page:Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute - Volume 1 (2nd ed.).djvu/92

74 of Latin words in i into oi; and I would premise on this point that any one who has heard and watched the provincial pronunciation of oi in French, would detect a clear sound like our i in those words that have re following oi.

Valcknaer says of various readings of MSS., "Maximam partem nihil esse quam pronuntiationem librariorum diversam, ai et e — oi et i promiscue pronuntiantium."

(4.) I have no need to make any remarks on the vowel sound of o in "not."

The difference between English and foreign pronunciation is slight.

(5.) Our sound of u is peculiar, as in the words "tune," "puny," &c., and is much nearer to the French than to the other continental languages, which sound it as "oo" in "fool."

I may, in passing, just illustrate this French pronunciation of Latin vowels from other Celtic races, and then explain how it seems to me that the French have now lost their Celtic pronunciation of vowel sounds while we have preserved it.

I would observe, then, that a Gaelic Highlander pronounces our a (in the word "table") soft, even in words where we use the broad a; e.g., he says "fayther" for "father," "rayther" for "rather;" also, "biled" for "boiled," "pison" for "poison." A Devonshire man and an Irishman will say "tiu" for "two" or "too;" and a Highlander will say "gude" for "good," "bluid" for "blood." I just throw out these hints for others to follow up who are more competent than I am to do so; and I proceed now to answer the question, "How comes it that the French have lost their pronunciation of Latin vowels, which was once like ours, and why did they write it after the continental pronunciation of vowel sounds, and not after their own?" My answer to those questions is, that the Celts or Gaels of Southern France were the people who pronounced the vowels as we do, as may be seen, for instance, in their corruption of the town Dea (Augusta) in Dauphiny, into Die. These were overrun and subjugated by the Kymry;