Conventions
- When highlighting alphabetic letters or spelling specifically, examples are in ⟨angled brackets⟩.
- Sounds come first in Mohican as an oral language. When necessary to distinguish sounds from letters, the sounds are in /slash brackets/.
Basic Consonants
⟨b⟩ English ‘tumble’. This almost always follows /m/.
| mbey | |
| hambat |
⟨ch⟩ English ‘mischief’. May sometimes sound like /j/ ‘major’ to English speakers.
| cha'kwtãan | |
| kaache | |
| kaakwaach |
⟨d⟩ English ‘mending’. This almost always follows /n/ or /m/.
| ndawat | |
| kooseendam |
⟨g⟩ English ‘finger’. This almost always follows /n/.
| ngomaawe | |
| peengith |
⟨j⟩ English ‘conjure’. This almost always follows /n/.
| njakseese | |
| peenjathow |
⟨h⟩ English ‘hat’. This only occurs at the beginning of words or after consonants.
| hooth | |
| eenhã |
⟨k⟩ English ‘skill’. At the end of a word there is an audible exhale, but otherwise there is no strong outflow of breath after (no aspiration). May sometimes sound like /g/ ‘dragon’ to English speakers.
| kãasa | |
| mdanookana | |
| a'taak |
⟨l⟩ English ‘hello’. This sound is very rare in Mohican.
| choochiloos |
⟨m⟩ English ‘mouse’.
| maak | |
| onãamaw | |
| taweekwam |
⟨n⟩ English ‘no’.
| ne'aw | |
| kinaawe | |
| matathin |
⟨p⟩ English ‘sponge’. At the end of a word there is an audible exhale, but otherwise there is no strong outflow of breath after (no aspiration). May sometimes sound like /b/ ‘able’ to English speakers.
| pa'ãaka | |
| weepawaayow | |
| otop |
⟨s⟩ English ‘saw’. This may be pronounced by some sepakers with the tongue-tip a little further back along the roof of the mouth than it is in English, sounding close to English ‘ship’
| sãapeewe | |
| chkeeweese | |
| wãapã'tkwaas |
⟨t⟩ English ‘stop’. At the end of a word there is an audible exhale, but otherwise there is no strong outflow of breath after (no aspiration). May sometimes sound like /d/ ‘middle’ to English speakers.
| tãaka | |
| aakhootaw | |
| onit |
⟨th⟩ English ‘thing’. This may be pronounced by some sepakers as a somewhat lisped s-sound closer to the teeth than English s.
| thooknãan | |
| ãathaapow | |
| che'nith |
⟨w⟩ English ‘away’. After a vowel letter, the /w/ sound is always pronounced distinctly.
| waawe'taw | |
| awaan | |
| ãamew |
⟨x⟩ Scottish ‘loch’, German ‘Bach’. This is a raspy k-like sound and should be pronounced with joy and gusto.
| xamaw | |
| meexathkw | |
| keesoox |
⟨y⟩ English ‘yep’. After a vowel letter, the /y/ sound is always pronounced distinctly.
| yathkam | |
| tooyaakw | |
| peenay |
⟨'⟩ English ‘uh-oh’. Called a glottal stop, this sounds like quickly holding your breath between sounds. This only occurs at the ends of words or after vowels.
| ndawa'a | |
| meene' |
There is some variety in the ways different speakers might say a consonant sound, especially to ears used to hearing English. Mohican allows for such diversity, they are all correct. The English examples are somewhat close to Mohican, and assume an early twenty-first century mid-Wisconsin accent. Make sure to pronounce each consonant clearly and distinctly.
Complex Consonants
Mohican can join consonants in ways that might be unfamiliar to English speakers. Here are a few noteworthy combinations.
⟨gw⟩ English ‘language’. This almost always follows /n/.
| ngwota | |
| ãayãangwat |
⟨kw⟩ English ‘squeek’. At the end of words, the /w/ sound is whispered
| kwã | |
| nãambaakwa | |
| aakwothkw |
⟨kh⟩: English ‘coat’. This sound has a strong outflow of air afterwards: it is aspirated.
| cheekheekan |
⟨ph⟩: English ‘post’. This sound has a strong outflow of air afterwards: it is aspirated.
| nãapham |
⟨t-h⟩: English ‘tall’. This sound has a strong outflow of air afterwards: it is aspirated. The hyphen distinguishes this combination from the sound written ⟨th⟩.
| t-ha | |
| weet-haatam |
Doubled Consonants
Where a consonant is doubled, written twice in a row, it is held twice as long.
| othkeennow | |
| kakaxkkãata'aw |