A dictionary of the Manks language, with the corresponding words or ...

INTRODUCTION TO THE
REMARKS,
TO WHICH ARE ANNEXED FIGURES OF REFERENCE.
Of the LETTERS and their SOUNDS.
1. The Alphabet consists of seventeen single
and three double consonants, and seven vovrels
—a e, i, o, u, iv, y. Of the consonants, fifteen
are'm'utabie-A, c, ch, d,f, g, j, k, m, p, q, s, sh,
si, t. The immutables are-?, n, r, which always
retain their sound ; and alter not, except when
preceded by s in the beginning of a word to show
the degrees of comparison. Gh and ph begin no
radical, or at least ought to begin none, as the
rated state, as the English k, or as c in can ; as,
CAM, CAPPAN. It never, however, usurps the
pronunciation of s, as in the EngUsh words cistern,
city, cedar, &c.
5. CH has a soft sound, as in chaghteu,
CHARBAA, CHiMGVS ; Ukc ch in English, in cherry,
charcoal, chime, &c.
6. CH has a hard or harsh sound, which sound
is not in the English language. I cannot express
it better than by a word which I would write or
spell egh or egg-yth, and a, en a (not) ; and which
sound would go through with the vowels, thus :
egh e, CHE ; egh i, chi ; egh o, cho ; egh u, chu ;
eghy,CHY; and with CHLA.CHLB.&c; andcuRA,
CURE, &C., &C.
7. D is pronounced as d, in English, in drone,
dunnal, &c.
8. But D, in other words, as if written and pronounced
dh, as in daa, doo, &c.
g. E is reckoned a small vowel, but is sometimes
sounded long, and sometimes short; the
latter sound as heard in men, ten, bed (in English)
answers to the Manks ben, ren, shen, &c.
10. The long or circumflexed E, as in vieriu,
t'eh, te, ve, &c., Uke the EngUsh they, bey ; or as
a in way, hay, say, &c.
11. F is called a weak consonant; because,
when aspirated, it looses aU its force ; as, fea
(rest) ; E ea (his rest.) It corresponds in many
cases with v; and has the English sound in fa,
FAASE, FOAYS, &C.
12. G is a heavy consonant, and pronounced
as g, in EngUsh, in gain, get, go ; as, gamman,
GoAiLL, GARRisH; but has no soft sound as in the
words gentle, generous, &c.
language now stands; although there are word
•. that are so written these are shown where they
occur in the work, and will be seen only to be
aspirations, gh of g and of d, and jyh of p. Sh and
si must be considered double consonants as they
have a change peculiar to themselves, and differ
from the other radical initialled s's. The v
is considered a secondary mute.
2. A is reckoned a broad vowel, and in some
words sounded as o, as in claoh (a stone), clogh
and as u, as in goan (scarce), goun. It is pronounced
as o in the EngUsh words of man, pan;
as, BAD, LAD, BAB, &c. ; and when circumflexed,
as in nidroo, sarey, is sounded as in matron, &c.
3. B is a labial, or Up-letter, and pronounced
as b, in English ; as, bare, boayl.
4. C preserves a strong sound in its unaspi-
13. When G is aspirated to gh, it is reckoned a
Ught consonant, and has a gutteral sound no
;
such sound is in the EngUsh language and al-
;
though ^A is in ghost and ghastly, they are only
sounded gost, gastly.
14. H is pronounced as h in the words hand,
hind, hold, &c. in EngUsh. Some would rather
caU h an auxiliary than a letter, because it rarely
begins any radical word except a few smaU ones,
as, HANNAH, HYM, &c., and scrves only to aspirate
the other consonants, as, ch, gh, mh, ph, th, &c ;
or the vowels, as, ha, he, hi, &c. When it aspirates
from t, foUowed by an )•, it is often sounded
as ch, as e hraa Qns time) ; e hroo (his envy) :
&c. It is an initial in feminine genitive nouns ;
J (her face) (her mind
,
;
orwUl); E HENNYM (her name.) The masculine
of those would be e eddin (his face) e ;
e ennym, (his name.)
15. / is one of the smaU vowels, and pro-
AiGNEY, (his mind) ;
nounced as i (in EngUsh) in pin, win, sin ; as,
SHIMMEY, SniD, SHILLEY.
16. J is pronounced exactly Uke the soft Eng-
Ush g, and is perfectly uniform in its sovmd.
17. K. This letter has precisely the sound of
hard c, in English, and is never sUent as the Eng-
Ush k in knee, knave, know. Sec.
18. L. Some say this letter admits of no aspi-
ration, and is pronounced as I (in EngUsh) ir
lioe, love: but I think
there is a distinction between lie or ly in EngUsh,
and LHiB in Manks; and had the words loo,
LOOR, &c., been speUed or written Lnoo and
LHOOR, they woiUd have answered the Manks
pronunciation better, for without the /jthe sound
is too narrow, except to those who know that
they require that sound.
19 il/is a strong consonant, but it is often