Excerpt from Observations Upon the Grammatical Structure and Use of the Umbundu or the Language of the Inhabitants of Bailundu and Bihe, and Other Countries of West Central Africa There are, however, several combinations of vowel sounds producing a modified sound resembling a diphthong. The fact that the vowels thus combined often contract goes to show that their union, without contraction, is not that of a true diphthong. These combinations are as follows: ac and ai approach ing the English 1 In shine, but not nearly as open; an something like broad o Scotch oi like the Portu guese oi. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.