{"id":1195,"date":"2010-06-02T14:29:28","date_gmt":"2010-06-02T18:29:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eastcree.org\/cree\/?page_id=1195"},"modified":"2019-11-11T16:12:43","modified_gmt":"2019-11-11T21:12:43","slug":"silent-letter-spelling","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.eastcree.org\/cree\/en\/grammar\/sounds-east-cree\/sounds\/vowels\/silent-vowels\/silent-letter-spelling\/","title":{"rendered":"Silent Letter Spelling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\r\n\r\n

<\/a>Silent vowel letters in East Cree<\/h1>\r\n

What are silent vowel letters?<\/h3>\r\n

If you have ever pronounced [ s\u0259\u02c8p\u02b0o\u028az ]<\/span> suppose<\/em> as [ \u02c8spo\u028az ]<\/span> spose <\/em>or [ p\u02b0\u0259\u02c8t\u02b0e\u026ado\u028a ]<\/span> potato<\/em> as [ p\u02b0\u02c8t\u02b0e\u026ado\u028a ]<\/span> ptato<\/em>, then you already know something about silent vowel letters: English speakers tend to leave out at least some instances of the first sound in suppose <\/em>and potato<\/em> in faster speech, and to pronounce the same vowels in slower speech.<\/p>\r\n

In contrast, silent vowel letters are much more common in East Cree, even in slower speech. The letters I, U, and A can all be silent in East Cree. For example, in the NEC word \u140b\u1431\u1426\u1450\u140e\u14d0<\/span> \"Clickaapih<\/strong>tuwin<\/span>, the I in PIH is silent. In the NEC word \u140a\u144e\u1426\u1484<\/span> \"Clickatih<\/strong>kw<\/span>, the I in TIH is silent. In fact, you can only hear one vowel in atih<\/strong>kw<\/em>, the first A, which is pronounced as an [ \u026a ]<\/span>-like sound; if you were to just look at the spelling you would think that this word had two syllables; however, you can only hear one syllable.<\/p>\r\n

The term ‘silent vowels’ only make sense if we refer to the spelling<\/em>: we cannot hear<\/em> silent vowels; we can only observe that the letters I, U or A are sometimes not pronounced. This page, then, is different from the other pages about vowels<\/a> because it focuses on the spelling, rather than the pronunciation.<\/p>\r\n

<\/a>Why should I spell silent vowels?<\/h3>\r\n

If the I is silent in aapih<\/strong>tuwin<\/em>, why not spell the word as aaph<\/strong>tuwin<\/em>? Or why not spell atihkw<\/em> as athkw<\/em>? There are two main reasons.<\/p>\r\n

If we include silent vowel letters in the spelling, it is easier for speakers of other varieties of Cree to read East Cree (and the other way around). For example, the Plains Cree word for ‘beaver’ is amiskw<\/em>, the same spelling as in East Cree; however, it has a different pronunciation. If the East Cree word for ‘beaver’ were spelled the way it sounds, \"\" (amskw<\/em>), then it would be more difficult to tell that Plains Cree amiskw<\/em> and East Cree ‘amskw<\/em>‘ are the same word.<\/p>\r\n

We should also spell silent vowel letters because they are sometimes pronounced, as in the following NEC examples.<\/p>\r\n
\u00a0<\/td>\r\n\u00a0<\/td>\r\nLax vowels are pronounced<\/td>\r\nLax vowels are not pronounced<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>
Northern<\/th>\r\n\u00a0<\/th>\r\nIPA<\/th>\r\n\u00a0<\/th>\r\nIPA<\/th>\r\n<\/tr>
\u14c2\u1525\u144e\u14a5\u144e\u14c2\u1424<\/td>\r\nnish<\/strong>timitiniu<\/td>\r\n\"Click<\/td>\r\n[n\u026a<\/strong>\u0283t\u028am\u02c8t\u026an\u0259\u028a]<\/td>\r\n\"Click<\/td>\r\n[n\u0283t\u028am\u02c8t\u026an\u0259\u028a]<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>
\u1405\u1426\u1431\u14c2\u14bb<\/td>\r\nuh<\/strong>pinim<\/td>\r\n\"Click<\/td>\r\n[\u028a<\/strong>h\u02c8p\u026an\u028am]<\/td>\r\n\"Click<\/td>\r\n[x\u02c8p\u026an\u028am], [h\u02c8p\u026an\u028am]<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>
\u1405\u144e\u14c2\u14bb<\/td>\r\nutin<\/strong>im<\/td>\r\n\"Click<\/td>\r\n[\u028a\u02c8t\u026a<\/strong>n\u028am]<\/td>\r\n\"Click<\/td>\r\n[\u028a\u02c8tn\u0329\u028am]<\/td>\r\n<\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>

The remaining discussion focuses on how to pronounce words with silent vowels.When are lax vowel letters silent?The lax vowel letters are more likely to be silent when they are between P, T, K, S, SH, or H. However, they can also be silent if they occur before or after M and N, or at the beginning or end of the word. The following topics are covered on this page:<\/p>\r\n