Page:A Sketch of Mota Grammar.djvu/7

A SKETCH OF MOTA GRAMMAR.

 

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I. ALPHABET.

The letters are used on the principle of representing the sound of the Mota by the letter which represents not the same, but the corresponding sound in English. The power of the letters in the two languages is very rarely identical, but in most cases the difference is slight. The following are the most important differences:—

1. g is in no case the same as in English, but represents a consonant common to all Melanesian tongues.

2. q represents a compound consonant in which k p w are present, with varying prominence in various words.

3. n̈ represents the English ng in singer, not that in finger. Because the Mota g is not the English g the sound of ng in Mota (as in tangae, a tree) is altogether different to the English ng, in either of its two sounds. In writing, or in printing in italics, this sound is represented by n̈; in printing in ordinary type by an italic n.

The letters used are a e g i k l m n o p q r s t u v w.

Before r, after n and l, there is an euphonic sound of d; as nan ra sounds nandra; and pul rua, puldrua; but the d is not written, as the words are nan and ra, pul and rua, and it is only a way of pronouncing r to please the ear. m is often pronounced very broadly, as if mw.

The vowel sounds represented by a e i o u are perhaps ten; a e i o having a long or short sound, u only a long

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