{"id":975,"date":"2010-05-20T16:04:49","date_gmt":"2010-05-20T21:04:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eastcree.org\/cree\/?page_id=975"},"modified":"2017-07-17T21:10:37","modified_gmt":"2017-07-18T01:10:37","slug":"silent-vowels","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.eastcree.org\/cree\/en\/grammar\/sounds-east-cree\/sounds\/vowels\/silent-vowels\/","title":{"rendered":"Silent Vowels"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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

What are silent vowels?<\/h3>\r\n

If you have ever pronounced suppose<\/em> [ s\u0259\u02c8p\u02b0o\u028az ]<\/span> as spose<\/em> [ ‘spo\u028az ]<\/span> or potato <\/em>[ p\u02b0\u0259\u02c8t\u02b0e\u026ado\u028a ]<\/span> as ptato <\/em>[ p\u02b0\u02c8t\u02b0e\u026ado\u028a ]<\/span>, then you already know something about silent vowels: English speakers tend to leave out [ \u0259 ]<\/span> sounds in faster speech, and to pronounce them in slower speech.<\/p>\r\n

In East Cree, the lax vowels are sometimes deleted in one context, but pronounced in another. Here are some examples.<\/p>\r\n
<\/td>\r\n<\/td>\r\nLax vowels are pronounced<\/td>\r\nLax vowels are not pronounced<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>
Northern<\/th>\r\n<\/th>\r\nIPA<\/th>\r\n<\/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>

For more example of lax vowel variation see the page on MI \/ NI<\/a><\/p>\r\n

To know more about silent vowels, read this study<\/a> by Sarah Knee (2012).<\/p>\r\n

<\/a>Spelling silent vowels<\/h3>\r\n

If the I is silent in aapih<\/strong>tuwin<\/em> \"Click , why not spell the word as aapt<\/strong>uwin<\/em>? Or why not spell atih<\/strong>kw<\/em> \"Click as atk<\/strong>w<\/em>? There are two main reasons:<\/p>\r\n

If we spell silent vowels, 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>. If the East Cree word for ‘beaver’ is spelled the way it sounds, \"Click (‘amskw<\/em>‘), then it is more difficult to tell that Plains Cree amiskw<\/em> and East Cree amskw<\/em> are really the same word.<\/p>\r\n

For more details about spelling, see the page on spelling silent vowels<\/a>.<\/p>

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