A

A has six sounds in the Key.

a long, like a in fame, came, tame. å, ä, åo, is the short sound of the last, as a in fate, rate, gate, final.

â is the sound of a in far, får, star, står. ǎ is the short soft sound of the last; as, in farm, fărm.

a is the short and shut sound of a, as in

can.

à is the nasal sound. The only sounds that approach this, in English, is a in palm, calm, psalm. It occurs uniformly before m, mh, and n-sometimes before th; as, in màthair, mother; àth, a ford; nathair, a serpent; math, good, and its derivatives; athar, sky, firma. ment;-in some words n is introduced for r in order to give it the nasal sound; as in cànran, mànran, mànrach, màrr. an, kàrr-an, màrr-ach; also mànr, màrr, to obstruct;-ai placed before mh, &c. has the same sound, or one nearly allied to ai in sprain, strain, brains, as the Scotch pronounce these words-marked in the key sprèn, strèn, brèns.

á is the short nasal sound; é before n, &c. the short one of ai or áé.

å in participles thus, tyà sounds like short u or ao shorter a little, chyao. ão has nothing like it in English; a pretty correct idea may be formed of it by pronouncing the u, in the surname Burns, long; also u in gun, without touching the rns in the first instance, and the -n in the latter. Bảogao

the French eu is somewhat like it. ao is the short sound of the last.

E has two sounds, long and short.

é long, like ee in teem, seem; feed, hired ė, ë, è, is the short of the above.

è long, as e in there, pronounced long ther-the of the Greeks, as the Scotch and Foreigners pronounce it.

n

é is the short sound of the last. Before v, representing mh and n, it has a nasal sound-see a nasal changed into ai-also representing ea or eu; as Neumh or Nèamh, nèv, Heaven, neamh, név, venom.

I has one sound long and short; as, y in my, thy; mi, thi, short; as i in sight, might, sit, mït.

O has four sounds, long and short.
ō, as o in more, mōr, tone, tōn, pole, pōl.
ỏ, ö, ō2, short sound of the above.
Ô sounds like o in lord, lôrd, cord, kôrd.
Ŏ is the short of the last; o'shorter.
ò is the long nasal sound, occurring uni-
formly before mh, and sometimes be-
fore n; in many instances the nasal
sound of o occurs otherwise placed; as,
in mòd, a court of justice, being a con-
traction of momhad; also mò, contrac
tion of momha, greater; also moit, fas-
tidiousness; mothar, a horrifying voice;
glothar, gag; mògharr bland. The true
orthography is momhar, glomhar, &c.
ó is the short nasal sound of o. Even be-
fore n, o sounds like o in pole, sole, &c.
sometimes; as, tonn, tō2un, a wave;
n is introduced sometimes to give the
nasal sounds merely; thus ònrachd,
sònraich, òrr-achg, sòrr..éch; the same
as ànrath, àrr-ah in a nasal.
U has a great number of sounds.

û sounds as u in pure, cure, tune.
ů, ü, is the short sound of the last.
û sounds as oo in moor, cool, tool.
ŭ is the short sound of the last.
ù is the same as the French u nearly.
ú is the French short sound.

u the same as the u in under, or un- a pre-
fix.

X is a contraction to save room, and repre

sents the primitive sound aŏ-gh', being a kind of a syllable and a half. See -gh'. -Gh', an idea of this original sound. It is a kind of an ineffectual effort to disjoint your jaws without touching the palate or teeth with your tongue, and at the same time making a strong respiration. It is nearly akin to the Greek x. It is not possible, without oral instruction, to convey an adequate idea of -gh'.

v2, this representing mh, shews that the v is only slightly sounded, the object of mh being chiefly to give the nasal twang to the preceding vowel.

112, lly', shews that the ll is liquified, as in

filial, fè-lyal; for ll and nn initial, see

and n in the Grammar. id, de. This is represented by ėj. It is said that it does not express the true sound. If not, Walker, and Fulton and Knight, must be wrong in pronouncing age, aj;