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Muskogee Pronunciation and Spelling Guide (Creek)

Welcome to our Muskogee alphabet page! The following charts show the pronunciation for the Muskogee 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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Muskogee Vowels

Character We Use:	Sometimes Also Used:	IPA symbol:	Muskogee pronunciation:
a	a:, ā	a ~ a	Like the a in father. It is sometimes, but not always, lengthened.
e	i	I ~ ε	Like the i in pit. Some speakers pronounce it more like the e in pet. Since many Creek speakers use the letter e to represent both short and long e (instead of using the ē character below), be aware that Creek words written with this letter may sometimes be pronounced with an e as in Pete instead.
ē	e, ë, i, i:	i ~ i	Like the e in Pete . It is sometimes, but not always, lengthened.
i	ae, æ, ai, ii, e	ej ~ e	Like the ai in bait. In the past, this sound was more commonly pronounced like the i in bite, but few if any speakers pronounce it that way anymore.
o	o:, ō, ω	o ~ o	Like the o in note. It is sometimes, but not always, lengthened.
u	o, oo		Like the u in put.
ue	oe, œ	oj ~ wi	Like the oy in boy or the wee in weed.
v	a, υ		Like the u in cup.

Muskogee Consonants

Character We Use:	Sometimes Also Used:	IPA symbol:	Muskogee pronunciation:
c	ch, č	t~d	Like ch in char or j in jar.
f		φ ~ β	A bilabial fricative, like an English "f" or "v" sound but pronounced without touching the upper teeth to the lower lip. The Spanish "v" and the Japanese "f" sound like this Creek sound.
h		h	Like h in English hay.
k		k	Like the unaspirated k in sky.
l		l	Like l in light.
m		m	Like m in moon.
n		n	Like n in night.
p		p	Like the unaspirated p in spin.
r	hl, th, ł	ł	This sound is a lateral fricative that doesn't really exist in English. It sounds like the "ll" in the Welsh name "Llewellyn." Some English speakers can pronounce it well if they try to pronounce the "breathy l" in the word clue without the c in front of it.
s		s~š~z	Like s in sue. Sometimes it sounds more sh in shoe or z in zoo.
t		t	Like the the unaspirated t in star.
w		w	Like w in way.
y		j	Like y in yes.

Muskogee Double Consonants

When a Muskogee word is spelled with double letters, like esse (hair) or cetto (snake), 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 esse, and the t sounds in "night-time" are pronounced like the ones in cetto.

Muskogee Creek Pronunciation and Vocabulary Resources

   Creek words
   Muskogee animals
   Muskogee body parts
   Muskogee color words
   The Creek alphabet
   Muscogean language family
   Native Americans of the Southeast
   Georgia Native Americans
   Creek stories