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[1] 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, sk, 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
- ↑ The word en, in, in quite late Cornish, was apparently sounded et, which is a solitary case of the disappearance of n in a monosyllable.
