Exceptions to the above rule are the following:
(1) In N. W. words ending in s or ll followed by another consonant have the vowel long; as trīst ‘sad’, cōsb ‘punishment’, hāllt ‘salt’ adj., etc., except in borrowed words, as căst ‘trick’. In S. W., however, all such words as the above conform to the rule.
(2) The vowel is long when it is a late contraction, § 33 iv; as ânt ‘they go’, for a-ant; bûm ‘I have been’, for bu-um; bônt ‘they may be’, for bo-ont; rhônt ‘they give’, for rho-ant. In ɥ̂m ‘we are’, ɥ̂nt ‘they are’, the vowel is pronounced long; it is marked long by J.D.R. 94; but E.P., ps. lxxv 1, rhymes ynt with hynt, and in Ml. W. it is written ynt (not *yynt); hence the lengthening is probably due to false analogy.
Cânt ‘they shall have’ is for ca-ant and has long a; but cant ‘sang’ is for can‑t; and is therefore short. Even gwĕld, § 44 vi, from gwêl, has the e shortened by the two consonants; a fortiori, in cant ‘sang’ where the final double consonant is older, the a must be short. Silvan Evans (s. v. canu) adopts the error of some recent writers, and circumflexes the a in cant, even where it rhymes with chwant, and in quoting Gr.O. 82, where no circumflex is used. The word never rhymes with ânt, gwnânt, etc.
☞The vowel is circumflexed when long before two consonants, except where the length is dialectal.
(3) The mutated form dēng of deg ‘ten’ preserves the long vowel of the latter in N. W.
iii. The vowel is long if it is final, or followed by b, d, g, f, dd, ff, th, ch, s; as tŷ ‘house’, llē ‘place’, māb ‘son’, tād ‘father’, gw̯āg ‘empty’, dōf ‘tame’, rhōdd ‘gift’, clōff ‘lame’, crōth ‘womb’, cōch ‘red’, glās ‘blue’.
Exceptions: (1) Words which are sometimes unaccented, vi below.
(2) Words borrowed from English, as săd ‘steady’, tw̆b, fflăch (from flash), lăch (from lash). Sŭd, also written sŭt, ‘kind, sort’ from suit (cf. Chaucer, Cant. Tales 3241) is now short; but in D.G. 448 it is long, rhyming with hud.
(3) Some interjectional words, such as chwăff, pĭff, ăch. The interjection och is now short, but is long in the bards; see Och/Gōch D.G. 464. Cȳff is now sometimes incorrectly shortened.
☞A long vowel need not be circumflexed before any of the above consonants. In the case of a contraction, however, the vowel is usually marked; thus rhôdd ‘he gave’ for rhoodd for rhoddodd. In such forms the circumflex is unconsciously regarded as a sign of contraction, and may be taken to indicate that the vowel is long independently of the character of the consonant.
The circumflex is also used in nâd ‘cry’ to distinguish it from năd ‘that not’.
iv. If the vowel be followed by l, n or r, it may be long or
