Native American language
American Indian tribes
Indian website
Welcome to our Arabela alphabet page! 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.
Character We Use: |
Sometimes Also Used: |
IPA symbol: | Arabela pronunciation: |
a | a ~ æ | Like the a in father. Sometimes it is pronounced more like the a in cat. | |
e | y, ï, |
|
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. |
Character We Use: |
Sometimes Also Used: |
IPA symbol: | Arabela pronunciation: |
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 ~ kw | 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." |
Back to the Native American Culture homepage
Back to Native American Indian Words
Back to our South America indigenous website
Native American genealogy
Beaver nation
Cherokee Harrahs
Apache women
Navajo bead supplies
Would you like to help support our organization's work with the Arabela language?