Arabela Pronunciation and Spelling Guide

The following charts show the pronunciation for the Arabela orthography we have used on our site, as well as some alternate spellings that you may find in other books and websites.

Vowels

Character We Use:	Sometimes Also Used:	IPA symbol:	How To Pronounce It:
a		a ~ æ	Like the a in father. Sometimes it is pronounced more like the a in cat.
e	y, ï, i	i	This sound does not exist in English. It sounds like the i in police only pronounced further back in the mouth. If you've ever heard a Slavic language like Russian or Polish being spoken, it is the same "dark i" sound from those languages.
i		i	Like the i in police.
o	u	o	Like the o in note.
u	o	u	Like the u in flute.

Consonants

Character We Use:	Sometimes Also Used:	IPA symbol:	How To Pronounce It:
ch	č	t	Like ch in child.
h	j	h	Like h in hay.
k	g, c, qu	k	Like k in king. Sometimes it sounds more like the g in girl
kw	cu, qu	kw ~ k^w	Like qu in queen.
m		m	Like m in moon.
n		n	Like n in night.
p	b	p	Like p in pine.
r			Like the r in Spanish pero, somewhat like the tt in American English butter.
s		s	Like s in see.
sh	š, x		Like sh in shell.
t	d	t	Like t in time.
ts		ts	Like ts in cats.
w	hu	w	Like w in way.
y		j	Like y in yes.
’	, ?		A pause sound, like the one in the middle of the word "uh-oh."

Arabela Pronunciation and Vocabulary Resources

   Arabella words
   Arabela animals
   Arabela body
   Arabela alphabet and text
   Zaparoan language family
   Amazonian languages

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