Queries.
1. In Mr. Zeisberger’s Grammar, double consonants are frequently used, as in Pommauchsin, Lenno, Lenni Lenape.
Quære: Are the two consonants fully and distinctly sounded, thus: pom-m-auchsin—Len-n-o, as in the Italian language, or is only one of the consonants heard, as if it were thus written: pomauchsin, leno. In this latter case what is the reason for using two consonants, if only one is sounded?
2. Mr. Zeisberger frequently puts a comma or apostrophe (’) before or after the letter N in the present of the indicative verbs, ’npommauchsi, and sometimes n’pommauchsi. Sometimes he writes the word without: ndappiwi, ndappiwitsch; what is the reason of this variation? Is there any necessity for the comma before or after the N in the first person, or after the K and W, in the second and third? Is it not best to simplify as much as possible the orthography of such a difficult language?
3. What is the difference in pronunciation between ke and que; say, pomauchsijenke and pomauchsijeque? Is the latter sounded like cue or kue, or is it sounded as ke?
4. The conjunctive mood is expressed in German by “wenn;” does it mean in English “if” or “when”? Does “n’pomauchsijane,” mean “when I live” or “if I live,” or both? I find it sometimes expressed “wenn,” oder “da,” oder “als,” which inclines me to think it signifies both “when” and “if.”
5. I find some terminations in the tenses of the verbs, sometimes written “cup,” sometimes “kup,” and sometimes “gup;” thus epiacup, “where I was,” elsijakup, “when or if I was so situated;” and pommauchsijengup, “if or when we have lived.” Are these different sounds, or does this difference in writing arise from the Germans being accustomed to confound the sounds of K and G hard?
6. I find some words written sometimes with one I and sometimes with two; thus elsia, and elsija. Are the two i’s separately articulated, or do they sound only as one?
7. I find the second person of the singular in verbs sometimes written with a K, sometimes with a G, thus kneichgussi, du wirst gesehen (thou art seen); kdaantschi, du wirst gehen (thou wilt go); gemilgussi, dir wird gegeben (it is given to thee). Why is it not written kemilgussi? see query 5. I find sometimes a double aa—Is it merely to express length of quantity, or are the two a’s sounded distinctly?
8. What is the difference in sound between ch and hh, do they both represent the same guttural sound like ch in German? If so, why express this sound in two different ways; if otherwise, what is the real difference between the two sounds?