The Wakan Circle

LETTER CHEYENNE ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION OF THE CHEYENNE LETTER a mahpe water a as in English "father" e ehane our father e as in English "pit" ("i" not "e" sound) h hese fly h as in English "happy" k kosa goat k as in English "skip" (unaspirated) ' he'eo'o women - as in English "Uh-oh!" m me'ko head m as in English "man" n nahkohe bear n as in English "never" o okohke crow o as in English "note" p poeso cat p as in English "spoon" (unaspirated) s semo boat s as in English "say" š še'še duck š (sh) as in English "shirt" t tosa'e Where? t as in English "stop" (unaspirated) v vee'e tepee v as in English "vein" x xao'o skunk x as in German "Achtung!"

The Cheyenne Language

Cheyenne is spoken in southeastern Montana on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, and in central Oklahoma. It is a member of the large Algonquian language family of North America which includes other languages such as Blackfoot, Arapaho, Cree, Ojibwa, Algonquin, Potawatomi, Kickapoo, Menomini, Fox, Massachusett, Delaware, Shawnee, Micmac, and Naskapi.

The Cheyenne alphabet and pronunciation guide

There are only 14 letters in the Cheyenne alphabet but they can combine together to create some very long words, composed of many smaller meaning parts. Following are some words illustrating the Cheyenne alphabet and a prounciation guide for the Cheyenne letters. Many other words are found in a new, large Cheyenne Dictionary on CD, the Cheyenne Sounds booklet, our online dictionary, word lists, and other pages at this site.

      LETTER     CHEYENNE   ENGLISH    PRONUNCIATION OF THE CHEYENNE LETTER         a         mahpe      water         a as in English "father"        e         ehane      our father    e as in English "pit" ("i" not "e" sound)        h         hese       fly           h as in English "happy"        k         kosa       goat          k as in English "skip" (unaspirated)        '         he'eo'o    women         - as in English "Uh-oh!"        m         me'ko      head          m as in English "man"        n         nahkohe    bear          n as in English "never"        o         okohke     crow          o as in English "note"        p         poeso      cat           p as in English "spoon" (unaspirated)        s         semo       boat          s as in English "say"        š         še'še      duck          š (sh) as in English "shirt"        t         tosa'e     Where?        t as in English "stop" (unaspirated)        v         vee'e      tepee         v as in English "vein"        x         xao'o      skunk         x as in German "Achtung!"

The š symbol has the same sound as the two English letters "sh". The apostrophe (') stands for the glottal stop, a very frequent "sound" in Cheyenne. It is the quick stopping "sound" between the two syllables of the English exclamation, "Uh-oh!" Cheyenne "x" has the same sound as German "x". It is a voiceless velar fricative, raspier than English "h". When Cheyenne "v" comes before an "a" or "o" vowel, it will often sound like English "w". It is still the same sound unit (phoneme), however, whether it is pronounced as "v" or "w". The Cheyenne "stop" sounds, "p", "t", and "k" are unaspirated. That is, they do not have a puff of air after them as these letters do when they begin English words, such as "pen," "toy", and "kite." Instead, they sound like the letters "p", "t", and "k" when they follow the letter "s," as in the English words "spill," "still," and "skill."

There are three Cheyenne vowels (a, e, o). They can be marked for high pitch (á, é, ó) or be voiceless (whispered), as in â, ô, ê. The preferred symbol to indicate voiceless vowels is a dot over the vowels; this symbol is available in Cheyenne fonts for personal use. This paragraph can be seen with dots over vowels if you click here.

Cheyenne words are made up of smaller meaning parts

Here is one of the longest Cheyenne words which we have heard:

náohkêsáa'oné'seómepêhévetsêhésto'anéhe, meaning 'I truly do not pronounce Cheyenne well.' This word has the following meaning parts (technically known as morphemes):

   ná- 'I'    ohke- 'regularly'    sáa- 'not' (this also requires the -he at the end of the word)    oné'seóme- 'truly'    pêhéve- 'good, well'    tsêhést- 'Cheyenne'    -o'ane 'pronounce'

This is just a brief introduction to Cheyenne. If you would like to learn more, visit other Cheyenne pages at this site, or consult the Cheyenne language reference materials page at the Web site of the SSILA (Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas) or the materials listed in the Cheyenne language bibliographies at this site.

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