i  as in machine    u  as in rule    uy  kûy "wolf" ey as in hey        ow as in low     owy tsówy "coffee"      a  as in father     o  as in off     oy  khóyñ "bark, rind" ya as in Yankee                      ay  páy "sun"

Long vowels are written by doubling the vowel letter. DO NOT read oo, ee and ay as in English.

kíí "meat"            pééy "dead"            p'óó "river; moon" towdôwm "floor"       tóów "house"           gúú "wise"      thóówñgúl "soda pop"  thóówñgul "wagon"      tówgúl "young man" thalíí "boy"          thaalíi "Grandmother!"

Consonants

k as in skin  kh as in khan      k'  like k with a catch t as in stone th as in Thompson  t'  like t with a catch p as in spin  ph as p in pin     p'  like p with a catch                                  ts' like ts with a catch   táádey "eye"   thóów "lap"   t'óów "cold"   ts'óów "rock, stone"  

B, d, g, ts, s, z, m, n, h and y as in English. Sy as sh in short. L is often pronounced as ddl in fiddle. Nasalization is indicated by ñ. It is not used if there is an n or m in the same syllable.

tséeyñ "horse"   gúúñ "horn"   syân "small"

High tone is indicated by ´ on the only or both vowels of the syllable, falling tone by ´ on the first vowel or by ^ on the only vowel of the syllable.

k'óó "cold"                 k'óo "knife" pháyñ "dust, dirt"          phâyñ "tie" ahóów "Kill him!"           aahóow "thank you"

The hyphen is used after prefixes. The middle dot is used, when necessary, to show that two letters belong to different syllables.

bey-sóó "sit down"          só·olkya "mouth" béyt·hoo "unknowing"        k'ówp·éytto "big mountain, Mt. Scott"