ABSTRACT
All the vowels of Kikuyu may occur long and short. Generally when the final vowel of a word is of the same quality as the initial vowel of the following word the two are run together and a long vowel results. Very long vowels are not common in unemphatic speech, but may be heard when the initial long vowel of certain demonstratives is pronounced after a like vowel, on the same tone, terminating the preceding word. In emphasis such vowels often sound amazingly long to an English ear. Very long vowels are common in emphatic speech in other positions. Vowel length is difficult to record consistently. Even in unemphatic speech the same word is sometimes pronounced with a short and sometimes with a long vowel, for no apparent reason. It seems that, as a general rule, vowels of final syllables of words tend to be rather long when they are followed immediately by words belonging to the Nasal Group.
