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Guahibo Pronunciation and Spelling Guide (Sikuani)

Welcome to our Guahibo alphabet page! The following charts show the pronunciation for the Guahibo orthography we have used on our site, as well as some alternate spellings that you may find in other books and websites.

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Guahibo Vowels

Character We Use:	Sometimes Also Used:	IPA symbol:	Guahibo pronunciation:
a		a	Like the a in father.
e		e	Like Spanish e, similar to the a in gate.
i		i	Like the i in police.
o		o	Like the o in note.
u		u	Like the u in flute.
ü	ë, y	ɨ	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.

Guahibo Consonants

Character We Use:	Sometimes Also Used:	IPA symbol:	Guahibo pronunciation:
b		b	Like the b in boy.
d		d	Like the d in day.
j	h	j	Like the h in heart.
k	c, qu	k	Like the k in kind.
l		l	Like l in light.
m		m	Like m in moon.
n		n	Like n in night.
p		p	Like the p in park.
r			Like a Spanish r, similar to the tt in English butter.
s		s	Like the s in see.
t		t	Like the soft t in still.
th	t	t^h	Like the hard t in till.
ts		ts	Like the ts in cats.
v	f	ɸ ~ v	Like the whisperyf in Japanese words like "Fuji." Sometimes it sounds more like the v in van.
w	hu	w	Like w in English way.
x	j	x	Like the raspy j in Spanish jalapeno.
y	hu	j	Like y in English yes.

Guahibo Indian Pronunciation and Vocabulary Resources

   Syntaxe Sikuani (Amazon affiliate link)
   Guahibo vocabulary
   Guahibo Indians
   Colombian Native