Clusters resulting from vowel deletion

When the letters I, U or A are silent, you often hear consonant clusters as a result. Such clusters are not obvious from the spelling. For example, neither of the following words contain a ‘spelled’ cluster. However, you can hear a cluster in each word because the letter I is not pronounced.

Northern Syllables IPA
Click here to hear this word paatikut paa – tikut [ ˈpaː - tʰkʊtʰ ]
Click here to hear this word miipitisuup mii – pi – tisuup [ miː - ˈpɪ - tsu̞pʰ ]
Southern Syllables IPA

Here are more examples where silent vowels result in audible consonant clusters. (Many more types of clusters are possible, but not shown here.) Notice that in some cases, you can hear up to four consonants in a row:

Northern Syllables IPA
Click here to hear this word pichistihwaau * pi – chistihwaau [ pɨ - tstʰwɔw ]
Click here to hear this word tihkaau tihkaau [ ̚kaw ]
Click here to hear this word waapihyaau ** waa – pihyaau [ ˈwa - pj̥aw ]
Click here to hear this word iyikishkaau i – yi – kishkaau [ i - ˈjɪ - kʃkaw ]
Click here to hear this word aahkusiu aahkusiu [ ˈaː - suː ]
Click here to hear this word aapikushiish *** aa – pi – kushiish [ a - ˈpʊ - kʷʃiʃ ]
Click here to hear this word kaachistuh kaachistuh [ ˈkaːtstʰ ]
Click here to hear this word kwaashkuhtiu kwaash kuhtiu [ ˈkɔʃ - kʰtuʔ ]
Click here to hear this word nituhtiwaau ni – tuhti – waau [ ɨn - ˈtɪ - wɔw ]
Click here to hear this word pwaanish pwaanish [ ˈpɔːntʃ ]
Click here to hear this word ukuhtishkui u – ku – tishkui [ u - ˈkʊ - tʃkʊy ]
Click here to hear this word maamaapisun maa – maa – pisun [ ma - ˈma - psʊn ]
Click here to hear this word iyikischisiiu **** i – yi – kischisiiu [ i - jɪ - kstsuʔ ]
Click here to hear this word amiskw amiskw [ ˈɛmskʷ ]
Click here to hear this word amishkushish ami – shkushish [ ɛmʃ - ˈkʊʃː ]
Click here to hear this word anichikw ***** ani - chikw [ ˈɛn - ʊkʷ ]
Click here to hear this word kaasiinikin kaa – sii – nikin [ ka - ˈsiːn - kɪn ]
Click here to hear this word wiiwiitimaa wii – wii – timaa [wiː - wi - tmaːʔ ]
Click here to hear this word shaapumin ****** shaa – pumin [ ˈʃaː - pmɪn ]
  1. * See the page on CH for the TS pronunciation of CHIS.
  2. ** here, PIHY sounds like the initial ‘py’ sounds in English pure.
  3. *** See the page on single vowels for the [ u ] pronunciation of I.
  4. **** Also see the pronunciation of CHIS for this example.
  5. ***** See the page on single vowels for the [ u ] pronunciation of I.
  6. ****** You might hear a bit of a vowel sound between the B and M.
Southern Syllables IPA

Finally, at the end of the word (but not elsewhere), consonants followed by W sound like a consonant cluster.

Click here to go back to H Clusters/ Back to H Clusters Click here to go to the top/ Top Click here to go to W Clusters/ Next: W Clusters