Tutelo Alphabet and Pronunciation

Pronunciation

Vowels: a e i o u añ iñ oñ

These are pronounced as in English

a as “a” in “father”

e as “a” in “pay”

i as “i” in “machine”

o as “o” in “home”

u as “oo” in “coot”

these are the same as above but nasalized.

añ iñ oñ

vowels can also be lengthened, or drawn out.

aa ee ii oo uu aañ iiñ ooñ

For example, in English you might say “that’s far”, and if its really far you might lengthen the a in far for emphasis and say “that’s faar!”

Consonants: ‘ b ch d g h j k l m n p s t w x y

These are pronounced as in English

ch h k l m n p s t w y

Unaspirated consonants

b halfway between English “p” and “b”, like “p” in “spill”

d halfway between English “t” and “d”, like “t” in “stick”

g halfway between English “k” and “g”, like “k” in “skid”

j halfway between English “ch” and “j”

To practice saying the Tutelo b. If you put your hand near your lips and say the English p, you will feel a puff of air on your hand. If you say the English b, you won’t feel that puff of air. Now try saying the English p, but with out puffing air onto your hand. That should be close to the Tutelo b sound. You can use this technique for the other Tutelo sounds d, g, and j as well.

x a raspy sound in the throat, halfway between English “k” and “h”

To say this sound, place your tongue were you would normally place it to say an English k sound, then move your tongue down so it no longer touches the roof of your mouth. Blow air through the space between the top of your tongue and the roof of your mouth like your saying an English h sound.

‘ glottal stop, such as the catch in your throat when you say “oh’oh”

Stress: á é í ó ú

For example, the word record is stressed either on the first or second syllable depending on its use. Its stressed on the first syllable in “I bought a récord”, and its stressed on the second syllable in “I will recórd it”. Words without stress marks are generally stressed on the second syllable.

In English, long vowels are stressed, but Tutelo words with a long vowel can be stressed on the short vowel instead.

For those of you that have Oliverio you may notice I’m using some different letters. I haven’t been able to get the font I want to use to work on Saponitown, so I’m going with what I’ve got for now. Heres a translation of how I’m posting some Tutelo letters, to how Oliverio writes it.

Saponitown—Oliverio

ch—c with a wedge over it and a small h

k—k with a small h

p—p with small h

t–t with small h

b—p

d—t

g—k

j—c with a wedge over it

And the letters with dots under them in Oliverio have an unknown pronunciation, so I’m writing them as English sounds ch,k,p,t.

I have been posting words how they appear in the dictionary, but many words are recorded as being pronounced more than one way. That’s because there’s a number of rules in Tutelo that can change the pronunciation of a word. Some of these rules are stricter than others and most are variable and not well understood, so if you don’t follow them you will still be understood. I’ll try to post some more of the variant pronunciations along with the vocabulary. Heres some guidelines below

Consonant changes:

A lot of these changes seem to occur just for the heck of it. How you ultimately chose to pronounce the word is up to you.

Tutelo ‘b’ can be pronounced like English ‘b’, most often when its in the middle of a word.

Same thing for Tutelo ‘d’ pronounced as English ‘d’

Tutelo ‘j’ or ‘ch’ as English ‘j’ or ‘ts’ — ‘chuchaagi’ can become ‘tsutsaagi’ (fingernail)

Tutelo ‘g’ as English ‘g’

‘s’ rarely as ‘sh’ — ‘manisaab’ can become ‘manishaab’ (ford)

‘w’ as ‘m’ — ‘wanóñ’ can become ‘manóñ’ (to steal)

‘l’ as ‘n’ — ‘láani’ can become ‘náani’ (3)

‘l’ as English ‘d’ or ‘r’ (like a trilled ‘r’ in Japanese)

‘mekoolemechin’ is originally written as ‘mecouremechin’(‘you are very welcome’ from Fort Christanna). A number of words from Fort Christanna have ‘r’ instead of ‘l’, and were also of Algonquian and possibly Iroquois origin. ‘Mecouremechin’ may be Algonquian, and I’m wondering if it’s the source for the greeting ‘mecou’ that I’ve seen floating around the internet.

Consonants near a nasal vowel or syllable

‘l’ can become ‘n’

‘w’ can become ‘m’

Either pronunciation is acceptable, but ‘m’ and ‘n’ seems to be preferred.

‘láñgE’ almost always becomes ‘náñgE’ (sit, stay)

‘waañsgoolóo’ can become ‘maañsgoolóo’ (pig) Recorded twice with ‘m’, once with ‘w’

‘waayuudgá’ can become ‘maayuudgá’ (pigeon) Recorded twice with ‘m’, twice with

‘w’

‘waañhganáñga’ sometimes becomes ‘maañhganáñga’ (white man) Recorded twice with ‘m’’ and twice with ‘w’

‘wanóoñ’ almost always becomes ‘manóoñ’ (steal)

‘wa’ in ‘wanóoñwa’ almost always becomes ‘manóoñma’ (steal)

‘waañganañhgaasít’ becomes ‘maañganañhgaasít’ (black man) Recorded twice only with ‘m’