Page:Proposals for a Uniform Missionary Alphabet.djvu/27

All the vowels in a Yakute word depend on the first. If the first is hard, all following vowels must be hard; if soft, all become soft. Again, if the vowel of one syllable is heavy, that of the next can only be the same heavy vowel, or its corresponding light vowel. If it is light, that of the next syllable must be the same light vowel, or its corresponding heavy vowel. For instance, if the first syllable of a word has a, the next can only have a or i; if ae, ae or ie; if o, o or u; if oe, œ or ue.

The vowels would, therefore, come under the following physiological categories:—

Guttural	a,		short, as in	ass;	long, as in	far.
Guttural„	o	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$ œ	short,„ as in„	work.
Guttural„	e		short,„ as in„	bird.
Palatal	i		short,„ as in„	pin;	long, as in„	ravine.
Labial	u		short,„ as in„	put;	long, as in„	boot.
Gutturo-palatal	ai	(e)	short,„ as in„	bed;	long, as in„	sailor.
Gutturo„ palatal„	ai		short,„ as in„		long, as in„	ire.
Gutturo„ palatal„	ei		short,„ as in„		long, as in„	ice.
Gutturo„ palatal„	oi		short,„ as in„		long, as in„	voice.
Gutturo-labial	au	(o)	short,„ as in„	oven;	long, as in„	home.
Gutturo„ palatal„	au		short,„ as in„		long, as in„	proud.
Gutturo„ palatal„	eu		short,„ as in„		Ital.	Europa.
Gutturo„ palatal„	ou		short,„ as in„		long, as in„	bought.
Lingual	ri		short,„ as in„	fiery;	long, as in„	reach.
Dental	li		short,„ as in„	friendly;	long, as in„	leach.
A broken, as in Väter.				I broken, as in Diener.
O broken, as in„ König.				U broken, as in„ Güte.

 

II.

How can these principal Sounds, after proper Classification, be expressed by us in writing and printing, without obscuring their physiological Value, and without creating any new typographical Difficulties?

The results at which we have arrived in the first part of our inquiry are those on which, with very slight and less important ex-