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Page 206

SIOUAN ALPHABET.

[This is given to explain the pronunciation of the Indian words in the following paper.]

a, as in father. 'a, an initially exploded a. ă, as in what. 'ă, an initially exploded ă. adiaeresis, as in hat. c, as sh in she. See ś. ɔ, a medial sh, a sonant-surd. ć (Dakota letter), as ch in church. ç, as th in thin. ɔ̉, a medial ç, sonant-surd. c̷ as th in the. e, as in they. 'e, an initially exploded e. ĕ, as in get. 'ĕ, an initially exploded ĕ. g, as in go. ġ (in Dakota), gh. See x. ḣ (in Dakota), kh, etc. See q. i, as in machine. 'i, an initially exploded i. ĭ, as in pin. j, as z in azure, or as j in French Jacques. ʞ, a medial k, a sonant-surd. k', an exploded k. ñ, as ng in sing. hn, its initial sound is expelled from the nostrils, and is scarcely heard.

o, as in no. 'o, an initially exploded o. d, a medial b or p, a sonant-surd. p', an exploded p. q, as German ch in ach. See ḣ. , a medial s (or z), a sonant-surd. ś (in Dakota), as sh in she. See c. ʇ, a medial t, a sonant-surd. t', an exploded t. u, as oo in tool. 'u, an initially exploded u. ŭ, as oo in foot. u̱, a sound between o and n. ü, as in German kühl. x, gh, or nearly the Arabic ghain. See ġ. dj, as j in judge. tc, as ch in church. See ć. tc', an exploded tc. ʇɔ, a medial tc, a sonant-surd. ʇ, a medial ts, a sonant-surd. ts', an exploded ts. ź (in Dakota), as z in azure, etc. See j. ai, as in aisle. au, as ow in cow. yu, as u in tune.

The following have the ordinary English sounds: b, d, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, w, y, and z. A superior n (ⁿ) after a vowel nasalizes it. A plus sign (+) after any letter prolongs it.

With the exception of the five letters taken from Rigg's Dakota Dictionary, and used only in the Dakota words in this paper, the above letters belong to the alphabet adopted by the Bureau of Ethnology.

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