Pronunciation of the fricatives S [ s ], SH [ ʃ ], and H [ h ]

East Cree has three fricatives, which are pronounced as [ s ], [ ʃ ] and [ h ].

S [ s ] and SH [ ʃ ]

S sounds like the S in sun:

Northern			Syllables	IPA
ᓯᓯᔅ		sisis	si – sis	[ ˈsɪ – sɪs ]

Southern			Syllables	IPA
ᓴᑲᑆᓐ		sakapwaan	sa – ka – pwaan	[ sa – kə – ˈpʷɔn ]

SH sounds like the SH in she:

Northern			Syllables	IPA
ᔒᔒᑉ		shiishiip	shii – shiip	[ ˈʃi – ʃip ]
ᐊᑆᓂᔥ		apwaanish	a – pwaa – nish	[ ɪ – pɔː – ˈnɪʃ ]

Southern			Syllables	IPA
ᔒᐹ		shiipaa	shii – paa	[ ˈʃiː – paː ]
ᐹᔥᑮᔥ		paashkiish	paash – kiish	[ paʃ – ˈkiʃ ]

H

In East Cree, H sounds like [ h ], and also sometimes like [ ç ] or [ ɦ ]. In East Cree, [ h ] can occur immediately before another consonant, and at the end of a word. In contrast, the [ h ] sound never occurs in these positions in English.

H sounds like the H in hold:

Northern			Syllables	IPA
ᒥᐦᐄᐦᑭᓐ		mihiihkin	mi – hiih – kin	[ mɪ – ˈhiiʰ – kɪn ]

Southern			Syllables	IPA
ᐸᐦᑯᐦᐋᐦ		pahkuhaah	pah – kuhaah	[ pah – ˈkʷhah ]

H before another consonant:

Northern			Syllables	IPA
ᒥᐦᑦ		miht *	miht	[ ˈmɪhtʰ ] or [ ˈmɪçtʰ ]

* The H might sound a little bit like the [ ç ] sound at the beginning of the word human in this example because it follows an [ i ] sound.

Southern			Syllables	IPA
ᐊᑯᐹᑎᓈᑲᓈᐦᑎᒄ		akupaatinaakanaahtikw	a – ku – paa – ti – naa – ka – naah – tikw	[a – kʊ – paː – tn̩ – naː – kə – ˈnaːʰ – tʊkʷ]

H at the end of a word:

Northern			Syllables	IPA
ᐅᓂᐐᐦ		uniwiih *	u – ni – wiih	[ ʊ – nə – wiːʰ ]
ᐋᒸᔮᐦ		aamwaayaah **	aa – mwaa – yaah	[ a – mɔ – jaʰ ] or [ a – mɔ – jaɦ ]

* The first syllable of this word sounds like [ wʊ ] instead of [ ʊ ]; just pay attention to the last syllable, which sounds like [ wiːh ].

** The H at the end of this word might sound a bit more ‘throaty’ — like [ ɦ ] — because it follows an AA sound.

Southern			Syllables	IPA
ᑳᓰᐦᐋᐦ		kaasiihaah	kaa – sii – haah	[ kaː – siː – ˈhah ]
ᑴᐦᑴᑎᐲᐦ		kwehkwetipiih	kweh – kwe – tii – piih	[ kweh – kwe – ti – ˈpih ]

H after tense vowels

Sometimes it is hard to hear the [ h ] sound in East Cree, and sometimes it is not pronounced, even though an H appears in the spelling. For example, the letter H can be silent or hard to hear after the tense vowels II, UU, E, and AA.

After tense vowels[ h ] is hard to hear:

Northern			Syllables	IPA
ᐋᐦᑯᓯᐤ		aahkusiu	aah – kusiu	[ ˈaː(ʰ) – kʷsɨw ]
ᑖᐦᑎᐱᐎᓐ		taahtipiwin	taah – ti – piwin	[ taː(ʰ) – tʰə – puʷən ]

Southern			Syllables	IPA
ᓵᐦᑯᑕᒥᔥ		saahkutamish	saah – ku – tamish	[ saʰ – kʊ – ˈtʌmʃ ]
ᐋᐦᒌᑯᔥ		aahchikush	aah – chikush	[ a – ˈtʃkʊʃ ]

In contrast, [ h ] is easily heard after some tense vowels:

Northern			Syllables	IPA
ᐄᔮᐦᑎᒄ		iiyaahtikw	ii – yaah – tikw	[ iː – ˈjaːʰ – təkʷ ]

Southern			Syllables	IPA
ᐹᐦᑉ		paahp	paahp	[ ˈpahp ]

No H in the spelling

Finally, in Northern East Cree, sometimes you can hear an [ h ] sound where there is no H in the spelling. (In newer spelling this [ h ] sound is sometimes written). For example, there is an [ h ] sound between the first and second words in this example.

Northern			Syllables	IPA
ᐋ ᐋᔨᒋᐦᐄᐙᓄᐎᒡ		aa aayichihiiwaanuwich	aa aa-yi-chihii-waa-nuwich	[ a h aː-jɪ-tʃʰhiː-waː-ˈnʊʷətʃ ]

See the page about H sounds for a more in-depth discussion of the [ h ] sound and the H spelling.