Klamath Tribes
Language Project

waq dal ?i gee ?ewksiknii ?elGank
How do you say that in Klamath?

VOWELS

   When adapting the Latin alphabet to other languages, linquists customarily assign Latin (as opposed to English) values to the vowels. This has been true for most Klamath writing, except that Klamath e represents a sound similar a in english cat
( rather than e in Spanish peso). Also the Barker system does not use the letter u. The sound represented by o varies between o as in English vote and u as in English rude. The Klamath system could have used either o or u. Barker chose o.

Click the to hear the sound.

C = "ch" in Klamath language
i = "e"		ptisap = father dic = well, good	o		loloqs = fire pom = beaver
e = "a"		wes = ice pec = foot (no sound)	a		cak = serviceberry qamals = dried fish

 

LONG VOWELS

   There is a distinction in Klamath involving the time it takes to say a vowel. Klamath vowels are either short or long in duration. Barker used a raised period to note that a vowel is pronounced long. This course simply doubles the vowel.

   Note : ? = a glottal sound

ii		niis = neck ?ii = yes	oo		Goos = tree yohoo = buffalo
ee		beep = daughter gee = this	aa		dwaa = what laap = two

SHORT AND LONG VOWELS CONTRASTED

Short sound			Long sound
a		?at = now	aa		?aat = you all
e		gena = go	ee		geena = all around there
i		?i = you	ii		?ii = yes
o		Gos = swan loq = grizzly	oo		Goos = tree looq = seed,core

DIPHTHONGS

    When a sound begins as one vowel and ends as another, it is called a diphthong. Combinations of vowel letter plus w or y are used to represent the Klamath diphthongs.

ay		kay = rabbit may = tule	aw		yawqs = medicine tawn = town
ey		cey = loose, rickety keys = snow	ew		cew = antelope ?ews = lake
oy		doycq'as = chokecherries moy = woodchuck	iw		siwga = kill wiwcqoots = whip

Vowels - Consonants - Ejectives - Vocabulary - Sentences & Phrases - Grammar