Tonkawa Language - Writing System

Writing System

The orthography used on the Tonkawa Tribe's website is similar to Americanist phonetic notation.

Alphabet Pronunciation Alphabet Pronunciation
c /ts/ a /a/
h /h/ a· /aː/
k /k/ e /e/
kʷ /kʷ/ e· /eː/
l /l/ i /i/
m /m/ i· /iː/
n /n/ o /o/
p /p/ o· /oː/
s /s/ u /u/
t /t/ u· /uː/
w /w/
x /x/
xʷ /xʷ/
y /j/
' or ? /ʔ/

Long vowels are indicated with a following middle dot < · >. The affricate /ts/ is written as < c >. The glottal stop /ʔ/ is written as either an apostrophe < ' > or with a superscript question mark < ? >. The palatal glide /j/ is written as < y >.

The phonemic orthography used in Hoijer's Tonkawa Texts is a later version of Americanist transcription. It uses a colon for long vowels < : > and the traditional glottal stop symbol < ʔ >. some of the examples of it would be like salt it is called mummun and peper is mummunchicew

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