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The Alphabet
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Compiled from Dr. Jeff Leer's Classroom Grammar of
Koniag Alutiiq, Kodiak Island Dialect and A Conversational Dictionary
of Kodiak Alutiiq, P.H. Knecht's Alutiiq Hypercard Lesson and Alutiiq
Language (Sugtestun) Lessons, with input from various Native speakers
and Jeff Leer.
Before European attempts to create an Alutiiq alphabet
with Cyrillic or English letters, the Alutiiq Language was completely
oral, passed along to children only through speaking. The Alutiiq alphabet
is an interpretation of the sounds of the Alutiiq Language. The Alutiiq
alphabet we use today is designed to be able to be typed with any keypad
on any computer - special symbols such as underlines and accent marks
have been eliminated.
Although the Alutiiq alphabet uses our English
letters, and some of the Alutiiq letters sound the same as English ones,
it is important to see the Alutiiq alphabet as its own set of sounds.
To read Alutiiq, you must stop trying to sound it out in English!
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There are four vowels in the Alutiiq language:
a, i, u, and e. There is no o in Alutiiq, and y is treated as a consonant
only. A, i, and u are considered prime vowels. They can be doubled or
combined for emphasis. The shorter sound e is known as a reduced vowel
(see below).
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Last Updated ( Monday, 26 March 2007 )
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Doubled Vowels:
A, i, and u can be doubled for emphasis. When an aa, ii, or uu
appears in a word, that syllable is accented.
If there is a consonant before a double vowel, there is a slight pause
before pronouncing that consonant. The reduced vowel e is never doubled.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 26 March 2007 )
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Stop consonants get
their name becaue the sounds are formed by stopping air for a split second
as it moves out of the mouth. The air can be stopped in a number of places,
in your throat, the back or middle of your mouth, at your teeth or even
on your lips. For example, try making a k sound. Without stopping the
air in your mouth, it would sound like an h. The letters below are listed
in order of where the air is stopped, beginning in the back of the throat
and moving forward.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 26 March 2007 )
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M in Alutiiq is equivalent to the English
m sound.
Example word:
minq'uq (sewing)
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Last Updated ( Monday, 26 March 2007 )
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Alutiiq Language