A Grammar of the Yoruba Language

Gb, a double consonant, employed to represent a peculiar sound between those two letters, which can only be learnt by hearing.

N, Ng, at the end of a word or syllable, should be sounded as slightly as possible, it being only a slight nasal sound; as, in rìn, "to walk;" yan, "to fry;" yangan, "Indian corn; ng, "I."

P is never sounded purely by itself, but always in combination with k. It has therefore been employed alone to represent that peculiar sound between them, as there is no danger of pronouncing it otherwise in the Yoruba language: so what would have been written kpa, "to kill," kpé, "to be right," kpò, "to be abundant," is written pa, pé, pò. It is, in fact, the hard sound corresponding to the soft gb.

Ṣ has the sound of sh in English.

Ç or Tṣ, when required, may be used for ch in English, as in "chariot, chalk, chide."

ACCENTS.

The accents are the acute, the grave, and the circumflex.

The Yoruba language is very musical: certain marks to distinguish the tones thus become indispensable. Two accents have therefore been used to point out this distinction, i.e. not to imply that a particular stress is to be laid on the accentuated syllable, but to mark a variety of intonation. The accents thus employed are, the

ACUTE, indicating elevation of tone, as, wó, "to be crooked;"

GRAVE, indicating depression of tone, as, wò, "to roost."

The following table will better exhibit the influence which the acute and grave accents have upon words spelt alike, which, being differently intoned, take different meanings—