In the use of accent-marks and of the symbol y I have deviated from the practice of the International Phonetic Association. Where roots did not occur as independent words, I have prefixed a hyphen and given a theoretical meaning. In the explanation of constructions I have allowed myself the use of distorted English; although this time-honored device does not really reproduce the foreign expression (substituting, as it does, impossible constructions for natural ones), it does enable the reader to follow the general trend of the foreign idiom.
A. PHONETICS.
1. Distinctive sounds.
1. The distinctive sounds are the following:
| Labial | Dental | Palatal | Velar | Laryngeal | |||
| 5 Stops:unvoiced | p | t | k | ʾ | |||
| b | d | g | ||||
| Spirants (unvoiced) | s | h | |||||
| Nasals (voiced) | m | n | ŋ | ||||
| Trill (voiced) | r | ||||||
| 10Lateral(voiced) | l | ||||||
| High vowels | i(e,y) | u(o,w) | |||||
| Low vowel | a |
2. a is a low unrounded vowel, as in Standard English far, but more tense and with the corners of the mouth (lips) slightly 15drawn back: hàlamanàn garden.
3. i and u, in what may be regarded as the normal form, are about as high as the Standard (American) English vowels in pit and put, but more tense; moreover, the lips are well drawn back for i and well rounded for u: ínit heat, lutúin be cooked.
204. In the final syllable of a phrase (or of a word spoken alone) the tongue position of i and u is as a rule lowered, often all the way to mid position; the tenseness and lip position are, however, kept, so that the resulting sound often resembles French è and lower o.
255. u is nearly always so lowered: bágo new, buhòk hair. It is not lowered in pùʾ ten.