The name applied to this is, the cuatrillo con coma, or the 4 with a comma. It is pronounced somewhat like the c with the cedilla, ç, only more quickly and with greater force—ds or dz.
This resembles the “4 with a comma,” but is described as softer, the tongue being brought into contact with the teeth, exactly as tz in German.
h A compound sound produced by combining the cuatrillo with a forcible aspirate, is represented by this sign.
Naturally, no description in words can convey a correct notion of these sounds. To learn them, one must hear them spoken by those to the manner-born.
Dr. Otto Stoll, who recently made a careful study of the Cakchiquel when in Guatemala, says of Parra’s characters:—
“The four new signs added to the European alphabet, by some of the old writers on Cakchiquel (Parra, Flores), viz:
,