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Assiniboine Pronunciation and Spelling Guide

The following charts show the pronunciation for the Assiniboine spellings we have used on our site, as well as some alternate spellings that you may find in other books and websites. You may also like to visit our Siouan homepage to see how Assiniboine relates to other languages from the Siouan language family.

˜Vowels

Character We Use:	Sometimes Also Used:	IPA symbol:	How To Pronounce It:
a		a	Like the a in father.
e		e	Like the e sound in Spanish, similar to the a in English gate.
i		i	Like the i in police.
o		o	Like the o in note.
u		u	Like the u in flute.

˜Nasal Vowels

Nasal vowels don't exist in English, but you may be familiar with them from French (or from hearing people speak English with a French accent.) They are pronounced just like oral ("regular") vowels, only using your nose as well as your mouth. To English speakers, a nasal vowel often sounds like a vowel with a half-pronounced "n" at the end of it. You can hear examples of nasal vowels at the end of the French words "bon" and "Jean," or in the middle of the word "Français."

Character We Use:	Sometimes Also Used:	IPA symbol:
ą	aⁿ, an, aη, aN	ã
į	iⁿ, in, iη, iN	ĩ
ų	uⁿ, oⁿ, un, uη, uN	ũ

˜Consonants

Character We Use:	Sometimes Also Used:	IPA symbol:	How To Pronounce It:
b		b	Like b in bill.
c	č, ch, c	t	Like ch in chair.
c'	c’, c’	t'	Like ch in char, but with a catch after it (like ch'ar).
d		d	Like d in English die.
g		g	Like g in gate.
ğ	, g, gh		Like the raspy g in Spanish saguaro.
h		h	Like h in hay.
	x,	x	Guttural sound that doesn't exist in English. Like ch in German ach.
’	x', x?, '	x'	Like ch in German ach, but with a catch after it.
j		d	Like j in jar.
k	kh,	k^h	Like k in key.
k'	k’, k?	k'	Like k in key, but with a catch after it (like k'ey).
m		m	Like m in English moon.
n		n	Like n in English night.
p	ph,	p^h	Like p in pin.
p'	p’, p?	p'	Like p in pin, but with a catch after it (like p'in).
s		s	Like s in so.
s'	s’, ş	s'	Like s in so, but with a catch after it (like s'o.)
š	s, sh		Like sh in show.
š'	sh', sh?, s’	'	Like sh in show, but with a catch after it (like sh'ow.)
t	th, t‘, , tx	t^h	Like t in tie.
t'	t’, ţ	t'	Like t in tie, but with a catch after it (like t'ie).
w		w	Like w in way.
y		j	Like y in yes.
z		z	Like z in zoo.
ž	zh, j		Like a French j. In English, you can hear this sound at the end of words like garage.
’	?		A pause sound, like the one in the middle of the word "uh-oh."

˜Stress

Word stress in the Sioux languages is significant. For example, in Assiniboine, eya with the stress on the second syllable means "say," but eya with the stress on the first syllable means "take." Unfortunately for language learners, native Assiniboine speakers almost never mark where the accent falls in a word (any more than English speakers do.) In texts written by linguists, sometimes you will see a stressed syllable in an Assiniboine word marked with an acute accent, such as eyá.

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