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Caddo Pronunciation and Spelling Guide

The following charts show the pronunciation for the Caddo spellings 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	Like the a in what or the a in father.
aa		a	Like the a in father, only held longer.
i		i ~ I	Like the ea in heat or the i in hit.
ii		i	Like the ea in heat, only held longer.
u		~ u	Like the u in put or the u in flute.
uu		u	Like the u in flute, only held longer.

˜Diphthongs

Character We Use:	Sometimes Also Used:	IPA symbol:	How To Pronounce It:
ay		aj	Like English eye.
aw		aw	Like ou in out.
iw		iw	Like a child saying ew!
uy		uy	Like the uoy in buoy.

˜Consonants

Character We Use:	Sometimes Also Used:	IPA symbol:	How To Pronounce It:
b		b	Like b in ball.
ch		t	Like ch in chair.
ch'		t'	Like ch in char, but with a catch after it (like ch'ar).
d		d	Like d in day.
h		h	Like h in heart.
k		k	Like k in skate.
k'		k'	Like k in key, but with a catch after it (like k'ey).
m		m	Like m in moon.
n		n	Like n in night.
p		p	Like p in spill.
s		s	Like s in sing.
sh			Like sh in shore.
t		t	Like t in sty.
t'		t'	Like t in tie, but with a catch after it (like t'ie).
ts		ts	Like ts in tsunami.
ts'		ts'	Like ts in tsunami, but with a catch after it (like ts'unami.)
w		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."

˜Tone

Caddo is a tone language. Some Caddo syllables are pronounced with higher pitch than others. In English, the last syllable of a question is pronounced with high pitch, so you can hear the difference between sentences like "You see a man." and "You see a man?" In Caddo, such high and low tones are used in nearly every word, giving the language a lively sound. For example, a'ah means "father" in Caddo, but á'áh means an uncle.

There are three Caddo tones: high, low, and falling (starts high and becomes low.) The tones are usually written like this:

a	low tone
á	high tone
àa	falling tone

˜Double Consonants

When a Caddo word is spelled with double letters, like díssikían (five) or háttih (woman), the consonant must be pronounced with double length. For an English speaker, the easiest way to pronounce a consonant with double length is to imagine a word break between the two consonants. The s sounds in "dress suit" are pronounced like the ones in díssikían, and the t sounds in "hot tub" are pronounced like the ones in háttih.

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