The apostrophe is found
within Alutiiq words on certain occasions, and this may be confusing to
English speakers accustomed to seeing apostrophes only in phrases like Sarah's
cat or contractions like can't. There are more instances and different reasons
in Alutiiq where the apostrope will occur. Some examples below will illustrate
the most often encountered apostrophes in Alutiiq.
Cama'i - (Hello) an apostrophe
is used in Alutiiq to separate two vowel sounds to prevent them from becoming
a single combination sound (see
Doubled Vowels).
Sugt'stun - (Like a person) The
' in this case represents the former voiceless e. This shows that there
will be a slight pause creating a syllable break.
Un'gani - (Out there) Where n
and g appear next to each other in a word, but are not supposed to be
the combination letter ng, they are separated by an apostrophe. While
Alutiiq n and g have their own sounds, the combination letter ng sounds
like the ng in sing.
Ing'iq - (Mountain) In certain
words over time, consonants will drop out of the pronunciation of a word,
and be replaced by an apostrophe. Often, the pronunciation will vary between
speakers. In this case, some speakers pronounce this word ingriq, maintaining
the r sound, while others pronounce it ing'iq. The most common consonants
to drop out of words are r and g.
Sometimes with the addition
of a suffix, the dropped consonant will reappear in the word; in reference
texts, the "missing" letter will be written as a superscript
r or g
instead of an apostrophe to show the reader what will be added back in
when a suffix joins the word. An example of this is the word pani'aq,
or "daughter." In normal writing, you simply would write pani'aq.
In a dictionary, this might be written panigaq,
to show that when you add a suffix or change the ending, the superscript
g will reappear as a regular g. This
lets you know that you need to add the g when you change the ending: "his
daughter" is panigaa (not pani'aa). This is complicated for a beginning
speaker, but worth mentioning for those wondering about those "floating
letters."
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