Chapter II.), when it is more strongly sounded. Then, and when it occurs

in the middle of a word, it represents in a lighter form the guttural _c’h_ of Breton, the _ch_ of German, Welsh, and Gaelic, or the guttural _gh_ of older English. At the end of a word this is to be written _gh_. It is a smooth guttural, as in Scottish Gaelic, without the rasping sound which it has in colloquial Welsh or in German.

7. _j_ is sounded as in English. It generally represents what was once written _s_. Lhuyd writes _dzh_ for this sound, and the MSS. often represent it by _g_.

8. _k_ is generally only used before _e_, _i_, _y_, or as a final. It has the same sound as in English. It often happens in grammatical inflections that a broad root vowel is changed to a thin one. In such cases if the preceding letter is a _c_ it must be changed to _k_.

9. _l_ has the ordinary English sound. Sometimes a double _l_ of earlier Cornish was written _lh_ (_telhar_, place, for _teller_). This may perhaps represent the aspirated _ll_ of Welsh, or (as in Portuguese) the _l mouillé_ (as _li_ in _valiant_).

10. _m_ has usually the same sound as in English. When it follows a _short_ vowel in an _accented syllable_ or a _monosyllable_, it has a peculiar sound as though a _b_ were prefixed to it, or as though the speaker had a slight cold in the head. This _b_ was frequently written in the later MSS., and in the mouths of less educated persons the _b_ supplanted the _m_ altogether. Thus _lemmyn_, now, became successively _lebman_ and _lebban_. The vanishing of the _m_ altogether did not occur in monosyllables, and it is undesirable to imitate it in other words. In the system of spelling adopted in this book, the _b_ will be written in cases where it was habitually written in later Cornish, but even when it is not written it is always to be sounded in the case of _short_ vowels in _accented_ syllables or _monosyllables_.

11. _n_ is usually sounded as in English. When it follows a _short_ vowel in an _accented_ syllable or in a _monosyllable_, a _d_ sound (analogous to the _b_ sound with _m_) precedes it. This _d_ is often written in the later MSS., and will be used in this book in cases where it is regularly found in later Cornish, but it is to be pronounced even where it is not written. In words of more than one syllable {63} the _d_ often supplanted the _n_ (e.g. _henna_, that, became successively _hedna_ and _hedda_), and monosyllables were sometimes made into dissyllables by it (e.g. _pen_, _pedn_, _pedden_); but both of these are vulgarisms not to be imitated.

12. _p_ is sounded as in English.

13. _q_ is sounded as in English, and is always followed by _w_. It is generally used in an initial mutation (see Chapter II.) of _gw_, but occurs occasionally, followed by _w_, as a radical sound.

14. _r_ has the same sound as in correct English, that is to say, it is very slightly heard when followed by a consonant or at the end of a word, unless the next word begins with a vowel, but, as in English, it often influences the preceding vowel. Its full sound is trilled, not guttural.

15. _s_ is the most puzzling of the consonants. It had probably four or five different values in the MSS., and might represent _s_, _z_, _sh_, _zh,_ _j_ according to circumstances. As an initial, or before _c_, _k_, _f_, _l_, _m_, _n,_ _p_, _q_, _r_, _t_, _w_, it was generally _s_, as in _so_; as a final, and before _b_, _d_, _g_, _j_, _v_, it was normally _z_ or as _s_ in _rose_. But between two vowels in the same word, or coming after another consonant and followed by a vowel, or as a final followed by a word beginning with a vowel and closely connected grammatically with its predecessor, it had commonly the sound of _j_, so much so that _g_ soft was often substituted for it, and there are cases where even an initial _s_ must have meant _sh_ or _zh_. Thus we find _cowsesow_, speeches, written _cowgegyow_, _carensa_, love, _carenga_ (for _carenja_), and in place-names, though we find _Nanskeval_, _Nanspean_, _Nanswidn_ when the epithet begins with a consonant, when it begins with a vowel we find _Nanjizel_ (=_Nans isal_, the lower valley). Sometimes in late Cornish the definite _j_ sound so completely superseded the _s_ or _z_, that it or its equivalent, _g_ soft or _dzh_, was always written for it, and in such cases it is written _j_ in the present system of spelling, but in other cases the best rules will be to pronounce _s_

1. As an initial; before _c_, _k_, _f_, _l_, _m_, _n_, _p_, _q_, _r_, _t_, _w_; or when doubled, as _s_ in _so_.

2. As a final, except when the next word, grammatically connected, begins with a vowel; or before _b_, _d_, _g,_ _j_, _v_, as _z_ or _s_ in _rose_.

3. Between two vowels in the same word; after another consonant and followed by a vowel; or as a final followed by a grammatically connected word, such as an epithet, beginning with a vowel, as _j_.

For the last rule compare Mrs. Gamp’s pronunciation of English (in _Martin Chuzzlewit_). There seems to have been an inherent tendency to the _j_, _sh_, or _zh_ sounds in every Cornish _s_, {64} but especially in those which represent a _d_ or _t_ of Welsh and Breton. The writer is aware that this is a very inadequate discussion of the question, but he does not wish to be unduly intricate, or to enter into a deep phonetic explanation. Those who would study the question more minutely are referred to an article by Prof. J. Loth in vol. xviii. of the _Revue Celtique_.

16. _t_ before _a_, _o_, _u_ is hard, as in English, but before _e_, _i_, _y_ has a sound approaching to that of _ch_ in _church_, or to _ti_ in words ending in _tion_. Sometimes _ch_ is written and fully pronounced where a _t_ was formerly written. Thus _chŷ_, house, was formerly _ty_, and in the eighteenth century _tî_, thou, was pronounced and often written _chee_.

17. _v_ is sounded as in English, but is often nearly inaudible at the end of a word, unless the next word begins with a vowel. Thus _ev_, he, is often written _e_ in later MSS.

18. _w_, except in compound vowels, is always a consonant, and has the same sound as in English. For its sound before _l_ and _r_ see Compound consonants.

19. _y_ consonant is sounded as _y_ consonant in English, or as _j_ in German. It is always consonant when it precedes a vowel, unless it is written _ŷ_, when it is a vowel, as in such words as _crŷes_, _tŷak_, etc.

20. _z_ is only used as an initial, but it is seldom used at all. The sound is that of an English _z_.

b. Compound consonants.

1. _bm_, _dn_ represent respectively the sound of _m_ and _n_ after a short vowel in an accented syllable or monosyllable (see _m_, _n_). There is no vowel sound between the two letters.

2. _ch_ is always sounded as in _church_. It usually represents a former _t_, or else occurs in borrowed English words.

3. _dh_ is sounded as _th_ in _thy_, _the_, etc., the Welsh _dd_, the Old English and Icelandic ð, the Modern Greek δ. In the MSS. it is represented by _th_ or [Picture: Letter]. Lhuyd writes it δ. {65}

4. _th_ (written [Picture: Letter] by Lhuyd) is sounded as _th_ in _thin_, _thick_, etc., the Welsh _th_, the Old English and Icelandic þ, the Greek _θ_. At the end of a syllable, especially after _r_, the sounds of _dh_ and _th_ are very light and tend to become inaudible, and are often represented by _h_, or omitted altogether. Thus, _gwartha_, _porth_, _barth_, _lowarth_, _gordhya_, _gortheb_, _kerdh_ often appear as _gwarha_, _gwarra_, _por_, _barh_, _lowar_, _lowarh_, _gorria_, _gorreb_, _kerr_. Thus also, _Porthgwartha_ (in St. Levan), is now written _Porthgwarrah_ and pronounced nearly _Pergworra_.

5. _gh_ is used at the end of words for the strong or guttural _h_. Lhuyd writes a Greek χ for this sound.

6. _ng_ (written by Lhuyd with an inverted Irish _g_) has the sound of _ng_ in _singer_, not as in _finger_ or _manger_.

7. _sh_ has the same sound as in English. It is only used in a few words of English derivation.

8. In _wh_ the _h_ is always sounded. This combination represents the Welsh _chw_. Lhuyd writes it _hu_.

9. _zh_ has the broader sound of _sh_, or that of the French _j_.

10. In _gwl_, _gwr_, _qwr_, _wl_, _wr_ there is a very light but quite audible sound of _w_ before the _l_ or _r_. So light is the _w_ that it was often omitted in the MSS. Thus _gwlasketh_, kingdom, _gwrîg_, did, and the mutation _wrîg_ were sometimes written _glasketh_, _grîg_, _rîg_. But this was incorrect.

* * * * *

There must have been among Cornish speakers a tendency to a somewhat blurred sound of certain letters, as though there were an obstruction of some sort in their vocal organs, not altogether unlike that attributed on the stage and in fiction, with some foundation in fact, to the Hebrew race. This is shown by the tendency to turn _s_ and _z_ into _sh_ and _zh_, and to insert _b_ before _m_, and _d_ before _n_. In the English spoken in Cornwall at the present day this tendency has quite disappeared, and the pronunciation, though not always the same as the standard English, is remarkably crisp and clear. Readers are solemnly warned against attempting to base or support any theories of Jewish or even of Phœnician influence in Cornwall on the above coincidence.

These directions for pronunciation must needs be only approximate. The exact phonetics are not attainable. The pronunciation of Cornish place-names forms something of a guide to the old sounds, only one must be careful not to be misled by the modern tendency to pronounce words as they are spelt according to the English values of letters, and one must also remember that there is no settled system of place-name orthography.