*

Observe. The nine letters marked in the preceding page with never touch a following letter nor change their forms, whether initial, medial, or final; but they always touch a preceding letter, like other consonants, unless that preceding letter be one of the nine. Two letters, tb and b, marked with †, although they may touch a following letter, resemble these nine in not changing their forms.

Observe. The letters whose English equivalents require dots. or other marks are, ‡, § ☺, ḥ −, kh ż, d 3, r }, § A, 7 A, z J, t b, z b, 'a ɛ, I ¿:

E

ទ

2

THE VOWEL SYSTEM.

ض ؟

1. The foregoing thirty-five letters constitute the alphabet, and are all considered consonants. The simple vowels are three, viz. 1. a, represented by a mark called zabar, thus — (over the letter which pronounces it); 2. i, represented by a mark called zer, thus (under its letter, being the only mark below the line); and 3. u, represented by a mark called pesh, thus (over its

letter). Of these, the first mark, (for a, pronounced like a in cedar or u in fun), is generally left out in printed books, and must be supplied after every consonant which has no other vowel given, or which is not deprived of the following vowel by the mark jazm placed over it.* Each of these three simple vowels has a corresponding long form, viz. á, í, ú, and there are four diphthongal sounds, viz. e, ai, o, au. Altogether, therefore, we

have ten vowel sounds, pronounced as in Italian or French, viz. a, á, i, í, u, ú, e, ai, o, au. (N.B. au is pronounced as in German, or as ou in our). The theory is, that these vowels cannot be uttered without the help of a consonant. Hence, strictly speaking, there is no such thing as an initial vowel in the Hindústání alphabet. When a vowel appears to begin a word or syllable, it is in reality uttered by the help of the consonants alif (1) and 'ain (). Of these, alif generally changes its shape to or in uttering a vowel beginning a syllable in the middle of a word, when a previous syllable ends in a vowel. It is then called hamza. Alif (1) and 'ain (), therefore, may be regarded as

*The vowel-mark, however, must not be supplied after a final consonant, nor after one which is followed by the butterfly form of the letter he 2; thus, is khet, not kahet, 'a field;' nor must it, as a general rule, be

supplied after dor d, followed by the

dhobi, not dahobi, ‘a washerman,' and

but to this there are exceptions, as

form of he; thus,

دهوبي.

is

is ḍhab, not ḍahab,"‘mode;•

I dahshat, ‘fear.'

is retained in the middle of a word

+ Occasionally, however, the form alif for the utterance of an initial vowel, and the mark, which ought to be placed over it, is sometimes omitted in printed books; thus,, less correctly, ta-ammul, 'reflection.' J. ma-ál, less correctly, J. Jend. The which is generally placed below to denote hamza, has

or

aspirates or breathings, which help to articulate initial vowels; so that alif might be represented by ', to denote a simple breathing (as in the Greek ảπò, or as h in the English honor, hour,

*

etc.), and ain by ", to denote a deeper breathing lower down in the throat, thus, I a, i, \ u, ; ≤ 'a, £ 'i, è 'u.

2. But alif may serve another purpose. If instead of uttering a, it follows that vowel uttered by another consonant, being itself quiescent, then the effect of is to lengthen a into á, as in the word má. At the beginning of a word the preceding a may of course be uttered by alif itself, thus ; but in this case one alif is written over the other in a curved form, and called madda, as in the word áp.† In both cases the vowel

sometimes incorrectly two dots under it, in which case it is liable to be con

inclined مائل md-il, more correctly written مایل founded with ge, as in

towards;ga-i, more correctly,gone: Observe, here, that ʼain never, like alif, changes its shape, or requires the mark in uttering an initial syllable in the middle of a word, after a previous syllable ending in a vowel. Ex. gr. mu-'allaq, 'suspended,' mu-'áƒ, 'pardoned.'

معلق

* In transposing Hindústání letters into English, it will be desirable to understand the breathing' for alif, so that should be transposed into a, not 'a, the breathing being understood. But the vowel a must always be written in English letters, although in Hindústání its mark, as being more frequent than the other vowel-marks, is left to be supplied; thus, for write a, and for write bad. 'Ain will then be more conveniently represented

by' instead of ".

† The a which precedes alif may of course be uttered by 'ain, as in the word, or without, le 'dmm, 'common.' Observe, however, here, that 'ain cannot (like alif 'at the beginning of a word) follow a uttered by itself. But like alif, in the middle or end of a word, it may follow a, or any vowel uttered by any other consonant but itself, being itself quiescent, in

and are

mark — is left out in printed books, so that practically, I in the middle of a word, and at the beginning, stand for ά. The consonants ye and wáw are used in a similar manner to lengthen i and u respectively, as in,, pil, an elephant,' púr, 'full,' * The same two consonants also form the diphthongal sounds e and o; but the vowel-marks then omitted, as in ¿le, o, je mez, a table,' so, ‘that same.' When the simple vowel - a precedes these same two consonants, it forms with them the diphthongal sounds ai and au, as in ai, au, sair, perambulation,' taur, manner.' Similarly in English, the letter h, like alif, may be said to lengthen the a in the word ah! and y and w are sometimes letters of prolongation, as in key, raw, and form diphthongal

ހ

which case it does not exactly lengthen the a, but gives it a kind of bleating guttural sound: thus the first two letters of the word ba'd, ‘after,' may be uttered with a sound something similar to the bleating of a sheep: similarly, ma', 'together with,' la', 'a ruby,' she'r, 'poetry? Occasionally 'ain is quiescent after a consonant at the end of a word in which case it gives a deep guttural aspiration to the final consonant, thus, 'prohibition.'

منع

man',

pro

kh, in which, has not this klush, 'pleased,' khud, The explanation of this may be,

* There are a few words beginning with longing effect on a previous, as in 'self,' the u being then represented by u. that these words are really khwush, khwud, and that the sound of wis lost.

(See 17, page 11.)

† But if ye and waw are initial, or are followed by a vowel, ye is then

sounded as y, and wáw as w; thus, yd, 'or,'

bayán,

wuh, 'that,'