18

FatuHer CrazzoLtaARA: Pointed out that tones existed in Nuer.

PROFESSOR WESTERMANN, in reply to Archdeacon Shaw's question whether these tone marks were‘used in West Africa, replied in the affirmative and added that he proposed to include them in the next edition of the Memorandum.

The Central Vowel.

PROFESSOR WESTERMANN: This was the vowel usually written 6 in Bari and it corresponded to the second vowel in the English word ‘father’. He believed that it was necessary to indicate it in Nilotic languages where it was generally written either 6 or é. It did not approximate to an 0, but was somewhere between a and o.

Mr. Batstone thought that in Zande a was preferable for orammatical reasons, and Father Crazzolara expressed a preference for €.

The Open Vowels.

PRoFEssoR WESTERMANN: It was proposed to use the symbols 9 and € to indicate the open vowel sounds which occur, e.g. in English vod as distinct from road, and French mére as distinct from été. These symbols need be used only where the distinction is essential.

MonsiagNor ZAMBONARDI further illustrated the distimction through Italian faro as compared with faro. |

The Velar Fricative.

PROFESSOR WESTERMANN: It is proposed to use the symbol ¥ (gamma) for this sound, which is found variously written gh and rh and rand q. It corresponds to g in German Lage. In the course of the discussion it was pointed out that the use of g was open to objection on the ground that in Arabic it was required for a totally different sound.

ARCHDEACON SHAW drew attention to the undesirability of taking decisions piecemeal and referred to the inconvenience which the use of non-Roman symbols would cause to the users of typewriters.

Palatalized Consonants.

ProressoR WESTERMANN: The Memorandum suggests the symbols ¢, j, and ny for these sounds.

BisHop Kircurne felt a difficulty about the use of ny, especially at the end of a word, owing to the confusion which might result from the different usage in English.

ProrEssoR WESTERMANN: There would be no difficulty for the African who had learnt that y has a consonantal value only, and no ae was actually found in West Africa, where ny was universally used. . As compared with the sign i recommended for this sound at the Aba Conference, the use of ny saved a diacritical mark.