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sound; thus it is usual to divide can-u ‘to sing’ so, can being the stem and u the ending, instead of ca-nu, which is the true syllabic division. In the case of more than one written consonant the division is usually made to follow the sound; thus, can-nu ‘to whiten’, plen-tyn ‘a child’, the etymological division being cann-u, plent-yn. Ml. scribes divided a word anywhere, even in the middle of a digraph.
In this grammar syllabic division is indicated when required by | as above; and the hyphen is used to mark off the formative elements of words, which do not necessarily form separate syllables.
Diphthongs.
§ 28. A diphthong consists of the combination in the same syllable of a sonantal with a consonantal vowel. When the sonantal element comes first the combination is a falling diphthong. When the consonantal element comes first it is a rising diphthong. “Diphthong” without modification will be understood to mean falling diphthong.
Falling Diphthongs.
§ 29. i. In O. W. falling diphthongs had for their second element either i, front u, or back u. The O. W. diphthongs with their Ml. and Mn. developments are as follows:
| O. W. | Ml. W. | Mn. W. | |
| i | ai | aɥ, ae | (aɥ), ae |
| oi | oɥ, oe | (oɥ), oe | |
| ui | wɥ | w͡y | |
| ei | ei | ei, ai | |
| Front ü | ou (au) | eu | eu, au |
| Back u | |||
| au | aw | aw | |
| eu | ew | ew | |
| iu | iw | iw | |
| iu | ɥw, ỿw | ɥw, ỿw | |
| ou | ỿw, ew | ỿw, ew |
