How to pronounce SENĆOŦEN
The SENĆOŦEN alphabetical order (Note that the glottal stop and glottalization of sonorant consonants (¸) is ignored in alphabetization):
The following describes the sounds (phonemes) represented by the letters of the alphabet taken in groups from the front of the mouth to the back. The example words are recordings of W̱SÁNEĆ elders Elsie Claxton, Chris Paul, Ivan Morris, Manson Pelkey, Anne Jimmy, Ray Sam, Mary Jack, Lou Claxton, Lavina Charles, and Helen Jack. Click here to see a chart of the IPA equivalents.
P B M M¸ represent /p, p̕, m, m̕/, which are produced with the lips together.
P /p/ is the same as the sound at the beginning and end of English “pop.”
B /p̕/ is ejective. It is like P but the sound is “ejected” out of the mouth with a strong pop.
M /m/ is the same as the sound at the beginning and end of English “mom.”
M¸ /m̕/ is like M but produced with a sort of tightness in the throat called a “creaky voice.”
Examples (click to listen):
Ŧ Ⱦ represent /θ, t̕ᶿ/, which are produced with the tip of the tongue against the front teeth.
Ŧ /θ/ is much like the sound at the beginning of the English word “think.” In SENĆOŦEN, this usually sounds much closer to S, and, in fact, some speakers use S instead of Ŧ.
Ⱦ /t̕ᶿ/ is unlike any sound in English. For this sound, put your tongue against your front teeth right at the gum line, then release it with a pop. Listen carefully to the examples with this sound.
Examples (click to listen):
T D S N N¸ represent /t, t̕, s, n, n̕/, which are produced with the tip of the tongue against the area above the gums behind the upper teeth called the alveolar ridge.
T /t/ is the same as the sound at the beginning and end of English “tot.”
D /t̕/ is ejective. It is like T but “ejected” out of the mouth with a strong pop.
S /s/ is the same as the sound at the beginning and end of English “sis.”
N /n/ is the same as the sound at the beginning and end of English “none.”
N¸ /n̕/ is like N but produced with a sort of tightness in the throat called a “creaky voice.”
Examples (click to listen):
Ć J Ś Y Y¸ represent /č, č̕, š, y, y̕/, which are produced with the tongue toward the front part of the roof of the mouth—a little farther back than for T, D, S, N, and N¸.
Ć /č/ is the same as the sound at the beginning and end of English “church.”
J /č̕/ is ejective. It is like Ć but “ejected” out of the mouth with a strong pop.
Ś /š/ is the same as the sound at the beginning of English “sugar” or “shoe.”
Y /y/ is the same as the sound at the beginning of English “yes.” See the vowel symbols Ⱥ and Í for the pronunciation of the /y/ phoneme after /e/, /ə/, and /a/.
Y¸ /y̕/ is like Y but produced with a sort of tightness in the throat called a “creaky voice.” See the vowel symbols Ⱥ and Í for the pronunciation of the /y̕/ phoneme after /e/, /ə/, and /a/.
Examples (click to listen):
Ṯ Ƚ L L¸ represent /ƛ̕, ɬ, l, l̕/, which are all produced with the tip of the tongue positioned as for T but with the air flowing around the side of the tongue.
Ṯ /ƛ̕/ is ejective. It is like a TȽ combination produced with a strong pop. Listen carefully to various L1 speakers’ recordings with this sound.
Ƚ /ɬ/ is a “juicy” sound. Put your tongue in the position for T and blow. It's easier to demonstrate than describe. Listen carefully to various L1 speakers’ recordings with this sound.
L /l/ is like the sound at the beginning and end of English “lull.”
L¸ /l̕/ is like L but produced with a sort of tightness in the throat called a “creaky voice.”
Examples (click to listen):
C Ȼ Q W̱ W U¸ represent /k, kʷ, k̕ʷ, xʷ, w, w̕/, which are produced with the lips rounded and the back of the tongue raised toward the back and roof of the mouth.
C /k/ is very rare in SENĆOŦEN. It occurs only in a few words borrowed from English or Chinook Jargon. It is the same as the sound at the beginning and end of English “kick.”
Ȼ /kʷ/ is the same as the sound at the beginning of English “quick.”
Q /k̕ʷ/ is ejective. It is like Ȼ but ejected out of the mouth with a strong pop.
W̱ /xʷ/ is similar to the sound at the beginning of English “which” (if you pronounce it differently from “witch”). It is pronounced with the tongue in the same position as for Ȼ, but the air is blown continuously through.
W /w/ is the same as the sound at the beginning of English “wow.”
U¸ /w̕ / is like W but produced with a sort of tightness in the throat called a “creaky voice.” It never occurs at the beginning of a word.
Examples (click to listen):
Ḵ K X Ṉ Ṉ¸ represent /q, q̕, x̣, ŋ, ŋ̕ /, which are all produced with the tongue pulled extremely far back in the mouth toward the uvula.
Ḵ /q/ is similar to the sound at the beginning of the English word “call”, but the back of the tongue is touching farther back.
K /q̕/ is ejective. It is like Ḵ but ejected out of the mouth with a strong pop.
X /x̣/ is unlike any English sound. It is produced with the tongue touching far back as for Ḵ, but the air flows continuously making a rough throat-clearing sound.
Ṉ /ŋ/ is similar to the sound at the end of English “sung.”
Ṉ¸ /ŋ̕/ is like Ṉ but produced with a sort of tightness in the throat called a “creaky voice.”
Examples (click to listen):
Ḱ ₭ X̱ represent /qʷ, q̕ʷ, x̣ʷ/, which are similar to the preceding sounds but are produced with the lips rounded.
Ḱ /qʷ/ is like Ḵ with the lips rounded.
₭ /q̕ʷ/ is ejective. It is like Ḱ but ejected out of the mouth with a strong pop.
X̱ /x̣ʷ/ is the same as X but produced with the lips rounded.
Examples (click to listen):
¸ H represent /ʔ, h/, which are both produced deep in the throat right at the vocal chords.
¸ /ʔ/ is called “glottal stop.” It sounds like a catch or abrupt stoppage of air in the throat. This sound is what separates the two vowel sounds in English “uh-oh.” It is not a regular phoneme in English, but in SENĆOŦEN it is a consonant like P, T or any other. In handwritten material and in much typed material, this is written as a comma. In this dictionary a comma (,) is a punctuation mark. The cedilla character (¸) is the glottal stop.
H /h/ is the same as the first sound in English “hat.”
Examples (click to listen):
Vowels
While the consonants of the SENĆOŦEN system generally indicate the phonemes of the language well, the vowel symbols show more deviation, influenced by English phonology.
I A Á E U O represent /i, e, ə, u, a/, the vowel sounds of SENĆOŦEN.
I /i/ is the same as the "i" in English “machine.”
A variant of /e/ [ɛ] or [æ] is rare in SENĆOŦEN. It occurs for some speakers only before the uvulars Ḵ, K, Ḱ, ₭, X, or X̱. It is like the "e" in English “bet” or the "a" in English “bat.”
Á variant of /e/ [e] is the common variant. It is like the vowel in English “bait” but without the [i] glide at the end. It is similar to the "e" in English “bet” but tenser.
E /ə/ is pronounced like the "a" and "o" of English “above” or like the "u" in English “cut.” It also can sound like the vowels of English “hook” or “hit,” depending on what sounds it is next to.
U /u/ is usually pronounced like the "oo" in English “hoot.” It also represents the glide /w/ when not at the beginning of a syllable. See the pronunciation of diphthongs, below.
O /a/ is pronounced like the "a" in English “father” or the "o" in English “hot.”
Examples (click to listen):
Diphthongs
Ⱥ Í U¸ represent diphthongs in SENĆOŦEN.
Ⱥ /ey/ is like the “long vowel”/diphthong in English “bait.”
Í /ay/ or /əy/ is like the diphthong in English “tide” or “tight,” as pronounced by some Canadian English speakers. For those familiar with standard transcription, the mark on this "I" might be mistaken for stress. It never indicates stress.
U¸ /əw̕/ or /uʔ/ is like the diphthong in some pronunciations of English “coat” or Canadian English “out,” especially when preceded by E. It can also be pronounced as the vowel U followed by the glottal stop.
Examples (click to listen):