O'odham Orthography
There are 2 O’odham dictionaries (Mathiot and Saxton) and 1 grammar (Zepeda) book published. Neither of the dictionaries is written in the Alvarez-Hale orthography. Zepeda’s book has an orthographic system sound comparison as the 1st lesson. A part of that 1st lesson is the Alvarez – Hale orthography. There are modified versions of the Alvarez – Hale system which include additonal consonants and symbols to create a broader understanding of differing dialects. This modified version is represented here. This modified version of the Alvarez/Hale orthography uses twenty-one consonants and five vowels. Other symbols are used to determine the length of the vowel. (The following letters are not used: f, q, r, v, x, & z). To accommodate local dialect these symbols were added to the Alvarez/Hale orthography: d & v.
Pronunciation Guide
The location of stress within a word – the stress on most O’odham words is consistently in initial position (first syllable).
The glottal stop (‘) is a sound produced by a stoppage of air in the throat and is also found in certain expressions in English. For example, “uh-oh”, as in “uh-oh, I think we’re in trouble!”
The vowel sounds in O’odham can be drawn out to a long sound or cut off as a short sound. The sound of a long or short vowel does not change – it is simply held for a longer or shorter duration.
A colon (:) following a vowel represents a long vowel. Long vowels can appear in any syllable of a word.
A vowel with a breve (˘) over it represents a short vowel. Short vowels, which are almost whispered, usually occur at the end of a word.
Plurals are created by reduplication of a singular word: reduplication of the first consonant and vowel, or just the initial vowel. (Example: gogs – gogogs or mi:tol – mimi:tol). Used in lower case, o’odham refers simply to people, and in upper case, O’odham refers to speakers of the O’odham language.
Resource ~ Zepeda, Ofelia. “The Papago Grammar.”
Letter | Sound | O'odhan | Miliga:n |
b | big | ban | coyote |
c | chip | cehia | little girl |
d | this | do'ag | mountain |
ḍ | but | tad | foot |
ḏ | dam | judum | bear |
g | go | gogs | dog |
h | hot | huñ | corn |
j | job | ju:k | rain |
k | kiss | ka:lit | wagon |
l | rolling r | lial | money |
m | miss | mi:tol | cat |
n | no | nalaṣ | orange |
ñ | canyon | ñulaṣ | peach |
p | pot | pi:las | pear |
s | see | siṣpakuḍ | safety pin |
ṣ | ship | ṣuṣk | shoes |
t | thin | taṣ | sun |
v | vine | violi:n | violin |
w | what | wioṣa | face |
y | yes | yavĭ | key |