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Welcome to our Cayuga alphabet page! The following charts show the pronunciation for the Cayuga 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: | Cayuga pronunciation: |
a | u | a | Like the a in father. |
a: | a·, aa | a![]() |
Like the a in father, only held longer. |
e | e | Like the e sound in Spanish, similar to the a in gate. | |
e: | e·, ee | e![]() |
Like the a in gate, only held longer. |
i | i | Like the i in police. | |
i: | i·, ii | i![]() |
Like the i in police, only held longer. |
o | o | Like the o in note. | |
o: | o·, oo | o![]() |
Like the o in note, only held longer. |
u | u | Like the u in flute. | |
u: | u·, uu | u![]() |
Like the u in flute, only held longer. |
Character We Use: |
Sometimes Also Used: |
IPA symbol: |
ę | eñ, enh | ![]() ![]() |
ę: | ę·, ęę, e:ñ, e·ñ, eenh | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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ų, oñ, onh, un | õ ~ ũ |
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ų:, ![]() |
õ![]() ![]() |
Character We Use: |
Sometimes Also Used: |
IPA symbol: | Cayuga pronunciation: |
d | t | d | Like d in day. |
g | k | g | Like g in good. |
h | h | Like h in English hay. | |
j | ts, ch | dz ~ d![]() |
Like ds in Edsel, j in jar, or ch in char. |
k | g | k | Like the soft k in ski. |
n | n | Like n in night. | |
r | r | Like r in English red. | |
s | s ~ ![]() |
Like s in sing. Before y or r it is pronounced more like the sh in show. | |
t | d | t | Like the soft t in star. |
ts | j | ts | Like the ts in tsunami. |
w | w | Like w in way. | |
y | j | Like y in yes. | |
’ | ![]() |
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A pause sound, like the one in the middle of the word "uh-oh." |
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