may fall will probably have acquired a knowledge of it, by the perusal of some of that Gentleman’s numerous and valuable publications, on the Hindoostanee, which is the universal language of the Mussulmans throughout the Peninsula.
VOWELS.
41. The duration of the sound of the vowels is divided into (Telugu characters)short, (Telugu characters)long, and (Telugu characters)continuous, the first occupying one, the second two, and the last three moments of time; and these measures of sound apply both to the initial arid connected forms of the vowels. The vowels (Telugu characters)u, (Telugu characters)i, (Telugu characters)oo, (Telugu characters)roo, (Telugu characters)ĕ, and (Telugu characters)ō, have each three measures of sound; namely, the short, the long, and the continuous; the vowel (Telugu characters)loo has no intermediate sound, but the extreme short and continuous sounds only; and the vowels (Telugu characters)ue and (Telugu characters)uo, are both long, and continuous, but not short. The short and long vowels are considered so different as to be represented by distinct letters, but it has not been thought necessary to distinguish the continuous measure of sound by separate characters.
42. The initial (Telugu characters), and its connected form (Telugu characters), have the sound of u, as in tun and sun, or of the o in come and done. This sound must not be confounded with the other sound given to u in English, as in cure and sure, &c.