Alphabet

Dinak'i (Upper Kuskokwim Athabascan) Alphabet

‘	tso’	beaver	Made by closing the glottis in the throat. This is what takes place between the two syllables in “oh-oh”. Glottal stop.
a	dał	crane	This vowel is similar to the English vowel in "hat", "sat", and "mat". Low front close unrounded vocoid.
ch	ts'och	plate	Similar to the ch in "church". Voiceless alveopalatal aspirated grooved affricate.
	chon	rain
ch'	łech’a	dog	Pronounced like ch with the glottis opening and closing simultaneously. Voiceless alveopalatal glottalized grooved affricate.
d	dał	crane	Similar to the d in "dog" or "doll". Voiceless unaspirated alveolar stop.
dl	dlot’	water plants	Similar to the ttle in "bottle" or "battle". Voiceless unaspirated alveolar lateral affricate.
dr	drodeya	sheep	Similar to the dr in "drop" (but representing one sound rather than a combination of two consonants, as in English). Voiceless unaspirated alveolar retroflexed grooved affricate.
dz	dzedza	bird	Similar to the ds in "buds" (but representing one sound rather than a combination of two consonants). Voiceless unaspirated alveolar affricate.
e	mes	swing	Similar to the e in “he”, “me”, and “be.” High front close unrounded vocoid.
g	guga’	baby	Similar to the g in “go” and “bag”. Voiceless unaspirated velar stop.
gh	t’ighis	cottonwood tree	Made in the position of a g but allowing the air to escape from the larynx as in v and z. Voiced velar fricative.
h	huh	Canada Goose	Made in the position of the k but allowing the air to escape from the lungs as in f and s. Voiceless velar fricative.
	ha	grease
i	is	fish trap	Pronounced between the i in “sit” and the a in “above”. High front open unrounded vocoid to mid-central close unrounded vocoid.
j	jił	cooking stick	Similar to the j in “job”. Voiceless aspirated alveopalatal affricate.
k	konsa	ground squirrel	Pronounced like the k in “kill”. Voiceless velar stop.
k’	k’o’	arrow	Pronounced like the k but with the glottis opening and closing simultaneously. Voiceless glottalized velar stop.
l	milo’	hand	Pronounced like the l in “lick”. Voiced lateral fricative.
ł	łił	fish hook	Resembles the l in “cleave”. Voiceless lateral fricative.
m	minh	lake	Pronounced like the m in “man”. Voiced bilabial nasal.
n	nune	porcupine	Pronounced like the n in “no”. Voiced alveolar nasal.
n'	k’un’	fish eggs	Pronounced like an n but cut off by closing the glottis. Voiced alveolar glottalized nasal.
nh	ts’inh	bone	Pronounced in the same position as the n but without moving the vocal cords. When pronounced by itself there is no sound except that of air escaping through the nose. Voiceless alveolar nasal.
o	osh	snowshoes	Similar to the o in “jot” or “pot”. Low back rounded vocoid.
s	suje	marten	Pronounced like the s in “saw”. Voiceless alveolar grooved fricative.
sh	osh	showshoes	Pronounced like the sh in “sheep”. Voiceless alveopalatal grooved fricative.
sr	sruh	robin	Sounds like the s and r pronounced together similar to the shr in “shrew” (but representing one sound rather than a combination of two consonants as in English) Voiceless alveolar retroflexed fricative.
t	tomo	swan	Pronounced like the t in “toy” and “to”. Voiceless aspirated alveolar stop.
t’	ch’it’on’	leaf	Pronounced like the t but with the glottis opening and closing simultaneously. Voiceless alveolar glottalized stop.
tł	hwtł	sled	Sounds like t and ł pronounced together. No comparable sound in English. Voiceless aspirated alveolar lateral affricate.
tł’	tł’uł	rope	Pronounced like the tł with the glottis opening and closing simultaneously. No comparable sound in English. Voiceless alveolar glottalized lateral affricate.
tr	dotron’	raven	Sounds like t and r pronounced at the same time. Similar to the tr in “tree”. Voiceless aspirated alveolar retroflexed grooved affricate.
tr’	tr’esh	boat	Sounds like the t and r pronounced at the same time with the glottis opening and closing simultaneously. Voiceless alveolar retroflexed glottalized grooved affricate.
ts	tso’	beaver	Sounds like a t and s pronounced at the same time, similar to ts in “hats” (but representing one sound rather that a combination of two consonants as in English.) Voiceless alveolar grooved affricate.
ts’	ts’inh	bone	Sounds like a t and s pronounced together with the glottis opening and closing simultaneously. No comparable sound in English. Voiceless alveolar glottalized grooved affricate.
u	tu	water	Similar to the u in “flu”. High back close rounded vocoid.
w	gwh	rabbit	Similar to the u in “put” and the oo in “foot”. High central close rounded vocoid.
y	yode	eagle	Pronounced like the y in “yes”. High front close unrounded nonsyllabic vocoid.
y’	k’wy’	willow	Pronounced like the y but cut off by closing the glottis. High front close unrounded glottalized nonsyllabic vocoid.
z	ch’izis	hide skin	Pronounced like the z in “zoo”. Voiced alveolar grooved fricative.
zr	jezra	camp robber	Sounds like z and r pronounced at the same time. No comparable sound in English. Voiced alveolar retroflexed grooved fricative.