Reference Sheet

 

(a) = /uh/ like ‘huh’ or like the u in ‘cub’
(aa) = /AW/ like the vowel in ‘hawk’ ; rhymes with flaw, saw, paw
(aaw) = /aw-uh/
(aw) = /ow/ as in tow
(ay) = /aye/ sounds like the English word ‘eye’.
(ah) = /ah/ rhymes with mock, sock, flock
(b) = soft b almost like p
(ch) = /tch/ like church
(d) = like English d
(e) = /æ/ ; rhymes with /a/ in cat
(ee) = /Æ/ like massive, extended and accented into a long vowel
(eew) = /æ-uh/ as in /a/ in at lengthened with a whispered w
(eh) = /ay/ rhymes with may / this sound is short, pause follows it
(f) as in English
(g) = always hard like /g/ in guest
(h) an aspirated ‘Huh’ sound
(h) after vowels, a brief stop or syncopation as in ‘’uh-oh’‘
(eh) sounds like the ‘ay’ in ‘way’
(ah) sounds like a in wand /ah/
(ih) sounds like e in key
(hum, dum, kum, gwut) the u here = /ou/ like soup
(i) = /i/ in bit or pin
(ii) = /ee/ in we or me or flee, extended to a long vowel
(iiw) = /EEE-yuh/ but the final yuh is whispered.
(j) like English, a soft ‘ch’
(k) as in English
(l) like English
(m) like English
(mukw, jukw, tukw) usually a throaty low pitched ‘oh’
(muh, maw) = moh ; rhymes with mow, low, flow (word initially)
(mwuh)= /moh/ rhymes with mow
(n) like English /n/
(o) = like /o/ rhymes with no, flow, low,toe
(oo) = /oh/ longer o sound, like the o sound in ‘mower’,
(ooy) = oh ee like the word toy or boy.
(p) like English
(s) like English
(sh) as in English
(t) like English
(u) = /u/ rhymes with put, foot, wood, stood.
(u) = sometimes more like the /e/ in hem or almost like /i/ in dim
(uy) = /ee/ in bee
(uw) = /oh/
(w) like English. Final (w) on a word is a barely audible whispered (wu)
(x) guttural, like German ch or a clearing of the throat.
(y) like English
(z) like English
(zh) = soft j like the sound at end of the word orange

(u) tends to sound more like /e/ in bet when (u) is accented (stressed)
– ut us uch ush ul un
except when preceded by h or w
and never in a weak syllable,
(the final syllable of long words is always weak)

Sound continuums:
(n) + (t) => (nd)
(n) + (k) => (ng)
(n) + (ch) => (nj)
(n) + (sh) => (nzh)
(t) softens to (ch) in diminutive words

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