e is great inconsistency
in pronunciation.

It is often impossible to determine the exact sound of vowels, even
in going over common words a score of times with as many people. The
accent seems very shifting and it is often difficult to tell where
it belongs.

Several initial consonants of words and syllables are commonly
interchanged, even by the same speaker if he uses a word more than
once during a conversation. That this fickleness is a permanency
in the language rather than the result of the present building of
new words is proved by ato names, words in use for many years --
probably many hundred years.

One of the most frequent interchanges is that of B and F. This is shown
in the following ato names: Bu-yay'-yeng or Fu-yay'-yeng; Ba-tay'-yan
or Fa-tay'-yan; Bi'-lig or Fi'-lig; and Long-boi' or Long-foi'. It
is also shown in two other words where one would naturally expect to
find permanency -- the names of the men's public buildings in the ato,
namely, ba'-wi or fa'-wi, and pa-ba-bu'-nan or pa-ba-fu'-nan. Other
common illustrations are found in the words ba-to or fa-to (stone)
and ba-bay'-i or fa-fay'-i (woman).

Another constant interchange is that of CH and D. This also is shown
well in names of ato, as follows: Cha-kong' or Da-kong'; Pud-pud-chog'
or Pud-pud-dog'; and Si-gi-chan' or Si-gi-dan'. It is shown also in
chi'-la or di'-la (tongue).

The interchange of initial K and G is constant. These letters are
interchanged in the following names of ato: Am-ka'-wa or Am-ga'-wa;
Lu-wa'-kan or Lu-wa'-gan; and Ung-kan' or Ung-gan'. Other illustrations
are ku'-lid or gu'-lid (itch) and ye'-ka or ye'-ga (earthquake).

The following three words illustrate both the last two interchanges:
Cho'-ko or Do'-go (name of an ato); pag-pa-ga'-da or pag-pa-ka'-cha
(heel); and ka-cho' or ga-de'-o (fish).

Nouns

The nouns appear to undergo slight change to indicate gender, number,
or case. To indicate sex the noun is followed by the word for woman
or man -- as, a'-su fa-fay'-i (female dog), or a'-su la-la'-ki
(male dog). The same method is employed to indicate sex in the case
of the third personal pronoun Si'-a or Si-to-di'. Si'-a la-le'-ki
or Si-to-di' la-la'-ki is used to indicate the masculine gender,
and Si'-a fa-fay'-i or Si-to-di' fa-fay'-i the feminine.

The plural form of the noun is sometimes the same as the
singular. Plural number may also be expressed by use of the word
ang-san (many) or am-in' (all) in ad