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/.
Long Vowels
The sound of these is stretched out, elongated, they take more time to say. They are spelled with doubled vowels to indicate how long it takes to say them. There are four long vowels:
⟨aa⟩ English ‘nod’, ‘broad’
| maamaakis | |
| waak |
⟨ãa⟩ English ‘long’, ‘owned’, ‘wood’. The airflow is nasal, breathing out through the nose instead of the mouth.
| mãamãach | |
| wãak |
⟨ee⟩ English ‘made’, ‘reed’, ‘skid’
| eene | |
| weeke |
⟨oo⟩ English ‘road’, ‘food’
| ooxoothoon | |
| pnook |
There is some variety in the ways different speakers might say a vowel 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 elongate the vowel’s time; these are not the same as what are called long vowels in English.
Short Vowels
These sounds are spoken quickly and in some cases can be so fast as to be whispered or deleted altogether. There are three short vowels; they are written once to indicate the amount of time it takes to say them:
⟨a⟩ English ‘lock’, ‘luck’
| awan | |
| nak |
⟨i⟩: English ‘mitt’, ʻitem’,ʻadjust’
| pkinim | |
| nik |
⟨o⟩: English ‘push’, ‘wool’
| thpomok | |
| onit |
Various speakers may the short vowels somewhat differently, and their sounds are often affected by the consonants that surround them. The English descriptions below are at best approximations. For some speakers, ⟨o⟩ can sound like /w/ (especially at the beginning of a word or after a /k/). This is normal variation and both pronunciations are correct.
Vowel Comparisons
Listen to the following, and pay attention to the difference in vowel length.
| awan | awaan | ||
| mawe | maawe | ||
| neexin | neexeen | ||
| nin | neen | ||
| otayoomow | ootayoomeen | ||
| nok | | nook |
Cut Vowels
The length of vowels is almost always cut down or compressed at the end of a word or before a glottal stop. Speakers may also cut a vowel before a /w/ or /y/ at the end of a word. In the dictionary, cut long vowels are indicated with an accent: /â/ from /aa/, /ê/ from /ee/, /ô/ from /oo/. Cut short vowels are written without the accent in the dictionary. In normal writing, cut long vowels are not pointed out with an accent mark as they are pronounced the same as their cut short-vowel counterparts.
Cut-a from /aa/ and /a/ are pronounced the same and are spelled ⟨a⟩.
| pna’ | | cut from short /pna’/ |
| ma’ | cut from long /maa’/ |
| ãanaw | | cut from short /ãanaw/ |
| neemanaw | cut from long /neemanaaw/ |
Cut /ãa/ is spelled ⟨ã⟩.
| chkwã’kat | cut from long /chkwãa’kat/ | |
| maxaanmãw | cut from long /maxaanmãaw/ |
Cut /ee/ and /i/ are pronounced the same and are spelled ⟨e⟩.
| kãatne’ | cut from short /kãatni’/ | |
| nimthe’ | cut from long /nimthee’/ |
| key | cut from short /kiy/ | |
| panew | cut from long /paneew/ |
Cut /o/ and /oo/ are pronounced the same and are spelled ⟨o⟩.
| o’keeskw | cut from short /o’keeskw/ | |
| mo’che | cut from long /moo’che/ |
| pmithow | cut from short /pmithow/ | |
| manitow | cut from long /manitoow/ |
Marginal /ae/
The sound ⟨ae⟩ occurs very rarely and only in certain circumstances. It sounds like English ‘bat’ or ‘get’.
| haengst | |
| maelaeks | |
| chae’th |