Apisa Achuffa

"Lesson One"
Charley Jones

Enunication Of OI, OA, IA, And IO :

Case insensitive combinations of holliso oi, oa, ia and io are enunciated in a special way.

Charley Jones provides lots of examples to help you both akostininchi   "to understand" and holisso ithana   "to learn" these ushta   "four" special rules.

  nia (nee-ya) - fat
  foi (foe-weh) - bee
  taloa (tah-lo-wah) - to sing
  keyu (kee-yeh) - not
  ia (eh-ah) - to go
  nukoa (no-koe-wah) - mad
  fiopa (fee-oh-pah) - to breathe
  nukwia (nuk-weh-ah) - bashful

Enunication Of Nasalized Vowels With Consonants M   And N :

Think back to much earlier in this lesson, a mention of nasalized sounds. Using a ibbak ishki "thumb" and a ibbak ushi "finger" pinch your nose shut then say "nasal." This is a highly nasalized sound. When a vowel tikba aya "precedes" a consonant m or n, this vowel is given a nasal sound. Earlier, I indicated nasalized vowels will be underlined. apistikeli "watch" for this in all lessons.

  ampo (ahm-poe) - dish
  lumbo (lewhm-bow) - round
  sinti (sehn-tey) - snake
  anchi (ahn-cheh) - quilt
  ikonla (ee-kohn-lah) - neck
  ofunlo (oe-fun-lo) - screech owl

Practice this lesson well! Clearly it is very nana fehna ikhana "to learn" these subtle differences in sound! Consider ikhana versus ikhana. Look the same! Should sound the same! First example ikhana has a nasalized "a" indicated by underlining. Second example ikhana is pronounced with an "uh" sound for the vowel "a" before the holisso "n" consonant. This "uh" sound is an "a" like the "u" in tub or the "a" in above or around.

First example is "to know" with a nasalized sound, "ee-ahn-nah" and my second example means "to learn" and is pronounced "ee-uh-nah" which is quite different. There are many subtle differences like this in Chahta. Now you better understand why Chahta is an interpreted language, not a written language!

Click on "next" below to continue Lesson One!