The Tunica Alphabet

 

There are 25 phonemes in the Tunica alphabet:

 

' a b ch d e ɛ f g h i k l m n o ɔ p r s sh t u w y

 

The dictionary is arranged in this order, with the exception of sh, which is contained within s.

Pronunciation Guide

Letter Pronounced like Tunica word English meaning
' uh_oh hichut'ɛ eagle
a father ashuhki day
b back alibama Alabama Indian
ch cheese chahta Choctaw
d den disu dime
e late enihku three
ɛ bet awɛhɛ you're welcome
f fish kafi coffee
g give ugachi his mother
h harm hahka corn
k kick kapashi chicken/rooster
i meet mili red
l late lɔhka basket
m man mohtini snow
n net nini fish
o whole onishi man
ɔ caw ɔkashi boy
p post pɛhasa wolf
r ferrocarril* rowina book
s sing sɛkana pecan
sh hush shihtimashu Chitimacha
t ten timura hill
u boot uruna frog
w west wishi water
y yes yishi raccoon

* There is no true English equivalent for the Tunica r. The Tunica r is trilled, similar to the Spanish r as pronounced in ferrocarril.

The letters b, d, g, and f only occur in words that were historically borrowed from other languages. For this reason, they do not occur very frequently in Tunica. For example, -gachi ‘mother’ and ingrasa ‘English speaking person’ are the only words containing g in Tunica.