Pronunciation Guide

Long and short		Where to put the accent
Vowels		Consonants to pay atttention to
Combinations of vowel plus w and y		Spelling convention

Coast Miwok is written phonetically rather than with regular English spelling, so here are some points to keep in mind so you can pronounce the words properly. Click on the speaker icon () to hear the word pronounced.

All of the sounds of Miwok can be long or short; they are written double when they are long. The double letter doesn't mean you pronounce the sound twice; you just hold the sound longer. For example, the long kk in  pokke "to bark" is pronounced like English "bookkeeper." Long ch is written cch, as in  koccha "house" or  macchaw "to speak."
Here are some examples of words that differ just by a short versus a long consonant:
hama	"not"		hamma	"grandmother"
huye	"sun to be out"		huyye	"cape, point (of land)"
yulu	"to be angry"		yullu	"rat"
huke	"to touch"		hukke	"front (of a person)"

All of the vowels of Miwok can be long or short. The long and short versions tend to sound very similar; the main difference between them is that the long vowels are held longer.
	a and aa	both as in "father" or "hot" — with long aa held longer than short a
	e and ee	e as in "let" — with long ee more like "say" or "they," and held longer than short e
	i and ii	i close to "she," "keen," "machine," — with long ii held longer than short i
	o and oo	o close to "saw" or "caught," — with long oo more like "so" or "coat"
	u and uu	u as in "too" or "sue" — with long uu held longer than short u
	Be careful not to fall into the trap of pronouncing these Miwok vowels as if they were in regular English spelling. In particular, remember that ee is close to English "say" and oo is close to English "so."

Here are some examples of words that differ just by a short versus a long vowel:
huk	"front"		huuk	"nose"
kawul	"night"		kaawul	"to dance"
akal	"to tell"		aakal	"already"
Here are examples of words that differ by a long consonant versus a long vowel:
onni	"face"		ooni	"to come"
poolo	"to be round"		pollo	"shell"

The vowels of Miwok can show up in combination with w and y. These combinations — which are written phonetically — usually have a different pronounciation than the same pair of letters in English.
	ay	as in "hide, high, lie, Taiwan" — not like "say"
	aw	as in "cow, loud" — not like "saw"
	oy	just like English "boy" or "boil"

The accent goes on the second syllable from the end in most Coast Miwok words. In this case, the accent is where you expect to hear it, so it's not written. Here are some examples of the many words where you accent the second syllable from the end:
	macchaw	"to speak, talk"		alu	"to hear"
	unu	"mother"		kenekkuh	"five"
	towih	"to be good, well"		puluuluk	"moon, month"
	hayuusa	"dog"		choyyekke	"deer"
Sometimes the accent falls on some syllable other than the second from the end. There are rules that describe the conditions where you might accent some other syllable, but for now let's just indicate this with an accent mark over the vowel. If the vowel is long, the accent over the first of the double vowels tells you the vowel is long.
	Accent on the last syllable:			Accent third from the end:
	ellée	"fish"		héenako	"boys"
	kawáa	"I go"		mícchanna	"speech, language"
	untúu	"your food'		chúppulu	"money"
	uhkóo	"his/her foot"		máswati	"to say something (once)"

	t and t	"Plain T" — t — is pronounced with the tongue a bit further forward than with a regular "T" in English, between the teeth almost as in English "TH" in "thick" or "with." "Back T" — t — is a "T" sound which you make with the tip of your tongue curled back a bit toward the roof of your mouth. It's pronounced at the same place behind the front teeth as "TR" in English "tree" and "true," but with only a hint of the "R" sound. "Back T" is distinct from plain "T" in Coast Miwok, as well as most of the neighboring native languages, such as Pomo.
	s and s	"Plain S" — s — is like a regular English "S" and it occurs only in English and Spanish loan words. "Back S" — s — is an "S" sound which you make with the tip of your tongue curled back a bit toward the roof of your mouth. It's pronounced in the same point as "SHR" in English "shrimp" and "shrink," but with only a hint of the "R" sound. If you have trouble pronouncing it this way, it's OK to use "SH" as in English "she."
		"Glottal Stop" —  — This sound is the catch in the throat between the vowels of English "oh-oh." It occurs in English but it doesn't make a difference in the meanings of English words and we don't write it.
	h	"H" is pronounced like English H. It frequently occurs at the end of words in Bodega Miwok, where it is pronounced; final H is not silent as in English "Sarah." Marin Miwok has s in words and syllables that end with h in Bodega Miwok, such as towih "good, well" and ukkuh "hand." These are towis and ukkus in Marin Miwok.

This spelling convention is an adaptation of the phonetic spelling that Dr. Catherine Callaghan uses in her dictionary of Bodega Miwok. All of the changes are designed to make reading and writing Coast Miwok easier. The exact differences include:

	t and s with an underscore for "back T" and "back S" in place of and — the phonetic symbols with dots under the "T" and "S."
	Note: The and symbols on this display ride slightly above the line of type, but they ordinarily sit flush with the other letters.
	an apostropohe or left-facing single quote — — for "glottal stop" in place of — the phonetic symbol that looks like a question mark without the dot under it.
	ch and cch in place of c and cc for the long and short "CH" sounds
	y in place of j
	The main accent of the word is marked only if it falls anywhere but on the second syllable from the end. Dr. Callaghan's spelling system marks it on almost every word.