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Welcome to our Cashinahua alphabet page! The following charts show the pronunciation for the Cashinahua 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: | Cashinahua pronunciation: |
a | a | Like the a in father. | |
e | |
|
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. | |
u | o | ~ o | Like the u in put. Sometimes it is pronounced more like the o in note. |
Character We Use: |
Sometimes Also Used: |
IPA symbol: |
an | ã | ã |
en | ẽ | |
in | ĩ | ĩ |
un | õ | õ |
Character We Use: |
Sometimes Also Used: |
IPA symbol: | Cashinahua pronunciation: |
b | v | b | Like b in boy. |
k | c, qu | k | Like k in key. |
ch | č | t | Like ch in chair. |
d | r | d ~ | Like d in day. Between two vowels, it is pronounced like the tt in American English butter. |
j | h | h | Like h in hand. |
m | m | Like m in moon. | |
n | n | Like n in night. | |
p | p | Like the p in pie. | |
s | s | Like s in sun. | |
t | t | Like t in tie. | |
ts | tz | ts | Like ts in cats. |
v | w | w~ β | Like w in way. Sometimes it is pronounced more like the bilabial v in Spanish navidad. |
x | sh, shr | ~ ʂ | Like sh in shell, or a retroflex sh sound like the sz of Polish. |
y | j | Like y in yes. | |
’ | , ? | A pause sound, like the one in the middle of the word "uh-oh." |
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