Note 66 — Chapter IV
Reading edition
A is to be sounded as in fate; ah as in father; the still broader sound is marked by aw, or au. The other English vowels are less ambiguous. C only used before h, and the sound thus indicated is never to be compounded with that of K. G is always hard, as in go; J always soft, as in June. At the end of words it has the sound of the English dge, as in knowledge; zh sounds as s in pleasure.
Several of the consonant sounds are used interchangeably, not only in different dialects, but even in the same, and by people of the same band: thus, m for n, g for k, or t for either, b for p, d for t, l for n, and r for either of these. In the Cree dialect, for example, the word, e-rin-ne signifies man; in the Ojibbeway it is e-nin-ne; in some other dialect approaching the Delaware, it is il-len-ni; in the Delaware, according to Zeisberger, len-no; in the Menomonie e-nain, or e-nai-new, when the meaning of the verb substantive is combined. This observation should be borne in mind by all who take the trouble to compare and examine the written words of any Indian language. To many of the Algonkin dialects the sound of b is entirely foreign; others have no r. Many of the guttural and nondescript sounds of the Chippewyan, as well as several of those in the Winnebago, and the nasal in the Algonkin, cannot be represented by our alphabet.