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Wichita Pronunciation and Spelling Guide

The following charts show the pronunciation for the Wichita spellings we have used on our site, as well as some alternate spellings that you may find in other books and websites.

˜Vowels

Character We Use:	Sometimes Also Used:	IPA symbol:	How To Pronounce It:
a		a ~	Like the o in got. Sometimes, in an unstressed syllable, it sounds more like the u in gut.
aa		a	Like the o in got, only held longer.
e		ε ~ æ	Like the e in bed or the a in sad.
ee		æ	Like the eah in yeah, held a long time.
i		i ~ I	Like the ea in heat or the i in hit.
ii		i ~ e	Like the ea in heat or the a in hate.
o		o~o	Like the o in show.

˜Consonants

Character We Use:	Sometimes Also Used:	IPA symbol:	How To Pronounce It:
c		ts ~ t	Like ch in chair or ts in tsunami.
h		h	Like h in heart.
k		k	Like k in skate.
kw		kw~k^w	Like qu in queen. Sometimes it sounds more like a rounded k sound.
p		p	Like p in spill.
r			Like the r in Spanish pero, somewhat like the tt in American English butter.
s		s	Like s in sing.
t		t	Like t in sty.
w		w	Like w in way.
’			A pause sound, like the one in the middle of the word "uh-oh."

˜Tone

Wichita is a tone language. Some Wichita syllables are pronounced with higher pitch than others. In English, the last syllable of a question is pronounced with high pitch, so you can hear the difference between sentences like "You see a man." and "You see a man?" In Wichita, such high and low tones are used in nearly every word, giving the language a lively sound.

There are two main Wichita tones: high and low. The tones are usually written like this:

á	high tone
a	low tone

At the end of a word, a high tone is pronounced like a falling tone instead (begins high and ends up low.)

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