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Ch'ol Maya Pronunciation and Spelling Guide

Vowels

Character We Use:	Sometimes Also Used:	IPA symbol:	How To Pronounce It:
a	aa, ā	a	Like the a in father.
ä	ö, i, , y	i ~ ə	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. Some speakers pronounce it more like the a in about.
e	ee, ē, ĕ	e	Like the Spanish e, similar to the a in English gate.
i	y, ii, ij, ī, ĭ	i	Like the i in police.
o	oo, ō	o	Like the o in note.
u	v, uu, ü, ū, ŭ	u	Like the u in flute.

Diphthongs

Consonants

Character We Use:	Sometimes Also Used:	IPA symbol:	How To Pronounce It:
b	b'	b ~ б	Like b in boy. Many Maya speakers pronounce this sound implosively, as if they were 'swallowing' the b sound, similar to the way b is pronounced in Vietnamese.
c	k, qu	k	As in the Spanish alphabet (from which the Ch'ol alphabet was adapted), both qu and c can represent the k sound in English key.
c'	k', q'u, qu', , 'c		Like c, only glottalized (pronounced with a pop of air.)
ch	tch, tsch	t	Like ch in chair.
ch'	tsch'	t	Like ch, only glottalized (pronounced with a pop of air.)
j	h	h	Like h in hay.
k	q	q	Like k only pronounced further back in the throat. This is the same sound as the q in Arabic.
k'	q',		Like q, only glottalized (pronounced with a pop of air.)
l		l	Like l in light.
m		m	Like m in moon.
n		n	Like n in night.
ñ	ny	ny	Like ny in canyon.
p		p	Like the p in pie.
p'			Like p, only glottalized (pronounced with a pop of air.)
qu	k, c	k	As in the Spanish alphabet (from which the Ch'ol alphabet was adapted), both qu and c can represent the k sound in English key.
q'u	k', qu', c',		Like qu, only glottalized (pronounced with a pop of air.)
r			Like Spanish r, somewhat like the tt in English butter.
s	z, ç	s	Like the s in sun.
t		t	Like the t in tell.
t'	, th		Like t, only glottalized (pronounced with a pop of air.)
tz	ts, c, ¢	ts	Like ts in cats.
tz'	ts', , ¢', 'tz, z'	t	Like ts, only glottalized (pronounced with a pop of air.)
w	hu, v, u, vu, gu	w	Like w in way.
x	š, sh, sch		Like sh in shell.
y	ll	j	Like y in yes.
’			A pause sound, like the one in the middle of the word "uh-oh."

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