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
		paatikut	paa – tikut	[ ˈpaː - tʰkʊtʰ ]
		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
		pichistihwaau *	pi – chistihwaau	[ pɨ - tstʰwɔw ]
		tihkaau	tihkaau	[ ̚tʰkaw ]
		waapihyaau **	waa – pihyaau	[ ˈwa - pj̥aw ]
		iyikishkaau	i – yi – kishkaau	[ i - ˈjɪ - kʃkaw ]
		aahkusiu	aah – kusiu	[ ˈaː - kʷsuː ]
		aapikushiish ***	aa – pi – kushiish	[ a - ˈpʊ - kʷʃiʃ ]
		kaachistuh	kaachistuh	[ ˈkaːtstʰ ]
		kwaashkuhtiu	kwaash kuhtiu	[ ˈkɔʃ - kʰtuʔ ]
		nituhtiwaau	ni – tuhti – waau	[ ɨn - ˈtʰtɪ - wɔw ]
		pwaanish	pwaanish	[ ˈpɔːntʃ ]
		ukuhtishkui	u – ku – tishkui	[ u - ˈkʊ - tʃkʊy ]
		maamaapisun	maa – maa – pisun	[ ma - ˈma - psʊn ]
		iyikischisiiu ****	i – yi – kischisiiu	[ i - jɪ - kstsuʔ ]
		amiskw	amiskw	[ ˈɛmskʷ ]
		amishkushish	ami – shkushish	[ ɛmʃ - ˈkʊʃː ]
		anichikw *****	ani - chikw	[ ˈɛn - tʃʊkʷ ]
		kaasiinikin	kaa – sii – nikin	[ ka - ˈsiːn - kɪn ]
		wiiwiitimaa	wii – wii – timaa	[wiː - wi - tmaːʔ ]
		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.

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