The i and y are very difficult to distinguish, especially when they follow one another.  Ex. iye or ye, or ie, tree; iangolo or yangolo, ear.  Father Egidi wrote j for y.

The l and r are very difficult to determine.  Ex. aliete or ariete, to salute; naul’i and naur’i, my eye.  In the vocabulary l is used generally.

The s is often ts.  Ex. tsivu and sivu; su(le) and tsu(le grass.  Also in the future suffix t or ts.  Ex. nati or natsi, I will eat.

II.  Elision.

A great number of Fuyuge words terminate in an open syllable of which the vowel is generally e.  This syllable is usually omitted at the end of a phrase, and nearly always when the following word commences with a consonant.  But if the following word begins with a vowel the final e only falls away.  Thus the complete form of a word is rarely used, except to avoid confusion, or for the sake of emphasis.  The following are examples: 

ovo(le), pig:  ovol’ ovoge, boar, ovo momombe, sow.

ifa(ne), beautiful:  ifa ta, very fine, ifan’ aka, less fine.

da(le), who? nu da? who art thou? dal’ aua? who is this?

i(nde), to give:  ne i, give me, ne ind’ u, give it to me.

_-a(le)_, with:  andal’ a? with what? indiv’ al’ ongai, cut with the knife.

a(le), here:  a mo ma? must I put it here? al’ itatsi, he will sleep here.

u(ne), and:  kitoval’ u kene, black parroquet and white, amb’ un’ ale, banana and sugar cane.

Note (1).  The b in an elision sometimes changes to p. Ex. obe, bud, op’indie, to bud.

(2).  Sometimes two syllables are elided:  Ex. taume, tame, from which comes ovo ta, a tame pig, and ovo taum’ ifa, the tame pig is good.

(3).  Words which do not end in e, rarely elide a final vowel, and never the last syllable.  Ex. kuku, tobacco, kuk’ oko nei, give me a little tobacco; na, I, nu, thee, ongo at the foot of, na n’ ong’ ando, I am at thy feet; umbubi, wash, umbub’ u, wash him.

(4).  Some verbs in _-ri_ or _-li_ however often omit this syllable.  Ex. ivo(ri) to wipe, na ga kodig’ ivo, I have wiped the plates; tsimi(li), to lick, ama tsimi, lick the salt; itu(lili) to split, ol’ itu, split the wood.

In the grammar and vocabulary the syllable which may be elided is enclosed in a bracket, and in compound words and phrases the elision is marked with an apostrophe, as in the preceding examples.

III.  Vowel Changes.