Klamath Tribes
Language Project

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

CONSONANTS

Unaspirated Voiceless Stop Consonants

    The letters b, d, j, and g are used in Klamath for sounds
which re similar to those they represent in English. They
sound, however, a little more like Spanish p, t, ch and
c and are best heard to appreciate the difference.

b		been hak = again blay = above	d		?aadii = far away dot = tooth
j		joyjiks = strawberry jaGlo = sagebrush	g		gen = Go gmocatk = old

     There are sounds in Klamath pronounced further back in the
throat than any of the above. The one which belongs here Barker
wrote as a g with a dot below it. We use a small upper case G.

G

Geela = earth jeGle = blood

G

Goos = tree Gees = ipos

 

Aspirated Stop Consonants

     The sounds represented by p, t, c, k are produced with a special
puff of breath. This should provide no trouble since English p, t,
and k are also aspirated as this characteristic is called. Klamath
c varies between an English ch and ts sound.  The letter q is
pronounced far back in the throat. It is the aspirated equivalent of G.

p		popas = cattail ptisap = father	t		toGi = horn, antler tabii = last, finally
c		cwa = potato ceelis = porcupine	k		kani = who kolsam = badgers (home)
q		qeemat = back qaqaac = tripe (cows stomach)

 

     Speakers of English usually find it difficult to distinguish
aspirated from unaspirated stops when they follow an s sound.
Listen for the way the Klamath pronounce the following.

sb		sbokl'is - sweathouse	sp		spinoo = grave
sd		sdaa = full	st		stinta = love
sj		sjimta = can't believe it	sc		sciqtGis = bridle
sg		sge?i = buy	sk		skoda = cover up
sG		sGena = canoe away	sq		sqol'e = meadowlark

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

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