Pronunciation of the Affricate CH

East Cree has four AFFRICATE sounds [ tʃ , ts, dʒ, dz ]. They are all spelled with the letters CH (with some minor exceptions described later.)

CH [ tʃ ] and J [ dʒ ] pronunciations

At the beginning of a word and between vowels, CH can sound like the [ tʃ ] in Chuck; it also often sounds like the [ dʒ ] in John.

Northern			Syllables	IPA
ᒌᐲ		chiipii	chii – pii	[ ˈdʒiː – piː ]
ᒋᔥᑖᐹᐐᐙᑭᓐ		chishtaapaawiiwaakin	chishtaa – paa – wii – waa -kin	[ tʃta – pa – wi – ˈwa – kɪn ]

Southern			Syllables	IPA
ᒌᒫᓐ		chiimaan	chii – maan	[ ˈdʒi – man ]
ᒋᔑᑌᐤ		chishiteu	chishi – teu	[ ˈtʃɪ – tew ]

Cree speakers can use the [ tʃ ] and [ dʒ ] sounds interchangeably, without signalling any change in the meaning of a word. For examples, see the page on voicing. In contrast, these sounds are not interchangeable in English; think of ‘chain’ versus ‘Jane’, which have two different meanings.

• Similarly, the [ p ] sound in pit and the [ b ] sound in bit are both acceptable ways of pronouncing the letter P in East Cree. Similar facts hold for T and K. For more information, see the page about plosives.

At the end of a word, CH usually sounds like the [ tʃ ] in Chuck.

Northern			Syllables	IPA
ᐊᓵᒥᒡ		asaamich	a – saa – mich	[ ɪ – ˈsaː – mɪtʃ ]

Southern			Syllables	IPA
ᐹᓯᐦᒡ		paasihch	paa – sihch	[ paː – ˈsɪtʃ ]

TS [ ts ] and DZ [ dz ] pronunciations

CH can also sound more like the [ dz ] in English adze or like the [ ts ] in cats.

Northern			Syllables	IPA
ᒋᒧᐎᓐ		chimuwin *	chi – muwin	[ dzɪ – ˈmuʷən ]
ᑳᐦᑳᒋᐤ		kaahkaachiu	kaah – kaa – chiu	[ kaʰ – ˈ ka – dzɨʷ ]
ᒀᔅᒋᐱᐳᓐ		kwaaschipipun	kwaas – chipi – pun	[ kɔs – ˈtsɪp – pʊn ]

* CH sounds like [ dz ] … or maybe like [ ts ]? See the page on plosives for explanation of why it is difficult to tell.

Southern			Syllables	IPA
ᐊᐦᐄᐱᐦᒉᓲ		ahiipihchesuu	a – hii – pih – che – suu	[ a – hi – pɪ – dʒe – ˈsuʔ ]
ᐐᒉᔅᒄ		wiicheskw	wii – cheskw	[ wi – ˈdʒeskʷ ]

Dialectal Variations in the pronunciation of CH

CH will often sound like [ ts ] in the Wemindji dialect of Northern East Cree. Many words pronounced [ tʃ ] in Chisasibi will be pronounced [ ts ] in Wemindji.

		Wemindji [ ts ]		Chisasibi [ tʃ ]
ᒋᓂᔅᑯᒥᑎᓐ	chiniskumitin
ᐊᓵᒥᒡ	asaamich				[ ɪ – ˈsaː – mɪtʃ ]

Other ways to spell the affricate.

The letters CHIS sound like [ tʰs ] or [ ts ]:

Northern			Syllables	IPA
ᒋᓵᐲᓯᒻ		chisaapiisim	chisaa – pii – sim	[ tʰsa – ˈpi – sʊm ]
ᒋᔅᐱᑳᐤ		chispikaau	chispi – kaau	[ˈtspɪ – kaːw ]
ᐊᒋᔅᑖᓱᓐᐦ		achistaasunh	a – chistaa – sunh	[ ɪ – tstaː – ˈsʊn ]

Southern			Syllables	IPA
ᒋᔅᐸᑳᐤ		chispakaau	chispa – kaau	[ tspʌ – ˈkaw ]
ᐸᐸᔦᒋᓲ		papayechisuu	pa – pa – ye – chisuu	[ pʌ – pə – je – ˈtsuʔ ]
ᒋᓲᐙᓲ		chisuuwaasuu	chisuu – waa – suu	[ (t)s(u)waː – ˈsuʔ ]

The letters CHISH sound like [ tʰʃ ] or [ tʃ ]:

Northern			Syllables	IPA
ᒋᔥᑖᐹᐐᐙᑭᓐ		chishtaapaawiiwaakin	chishtaa – paa – wii – waa – kin	[ t(ʰ)ʃtaː – paː – wiː – ˈwaː – kɪn ]
ᒋᔣᑖᓐ		chishwaataan	chishwaa – taan	[ ˈtʃʷɔː – taːn ]

Southern			Syllables	IPA
ᒋᔥᑑᒡ		chishtuuch	chishtuuch	[ ˈtʃtuːtʃ ]
ᑯᒋᔥᑕ		kuchishta	ku – chishta	[ kʊ – ˈtʃtɛʰ ]

CHICH sounds like [ ts ] or [ tts ] or [ tʃ ]:

Northern			Syllables	IPA
ᐲᐦᒋᒑᒥᑭᓐ		piihchichaamikin	piih – chichaami – kin	[ piː – ˈtsam – kɪn ]

Southern			Syllables	IPA
ᑳᓰᒋᐦᒋᒑᓐ		kaasiichihchichaan	kaa – sii – chih – chichaan	[ ka ̟- siː – tʃɪ̥ – ˈtʃan ]