Ch 2. FNLG 141K Introduction to the Kwak’wala Language © 2009 Patricia A. Shaw, UBC FNLG.
Chapter 2
Sounds and Symbols: Alphabets
2.3.1. Listening to what we hear
When you listen to a language you don’t know, it’s somewhat like listening to
music. Generally, what people hear is the beat or the rhythm, the rise and fall of
the melody, the sound quality of the instrument (for example, you can tell pretty
quickly whether it’s a guitar or a human voice), but people don’t tend to listen to or at least consciously think of - each individual note, one by one. Similarly,
when you listen to an unfamiliar language, you don’t tend to hear - or at least be
aware of - each individual sound in the sequence. Your ears will probably tell you
quite quickly if there are some different sounds in the language, compared with
languages you’re familiar with, but you’ll find that it’s almost impossible to tell
even where one word ends and another begins, let alone to hear where one consonant or vowel sound ends and the next begins. It’s more like a fluid stream of
sound, with various interruptions, modulations, and pauses. We hear the rhythm
of the syllables, the rise and fall of pitch levels, but we don’t tend to hear each
individual speech sound.
However, in addition to having syllables, intonation contours, and the like, all
human languages are also structured in terms of individual units of sound. For
example, the English word [h ɛ l p] help has 4 distinct speech sounds. Similarly,
the Kwak’wala word asa [asa] sea otter is made up of 4 distinct speech
sounds. Many writing systems are based on representing each of these distinctive
sounds of a language with a particular symbol.
2.3.2. Writing what we hear
An orthography is a system for writing a language. There are various different
possible ways of writing a language. Often different orthographies serve different
goals. One important goal for people beginning to learn Kwak’wala is to be able
to pronounce words correctly. Kwak’wala has many different consonant sounds
which do not occur in English. Most of these sounds don’t occur in other
languages you may be familiar with either, such as French or German or Spanish
or Chinese. However, if you know Nuu-chah-nulth or Nɬe'kepmxcin or Nisga’a or
some other First Nations language of the northwest (see map of Northwest Coast
languages), then you will have heard some of these speech sounds before.
However, because each language in the world organizes its sounds somewhat
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Ch 2. FNLG 141K Introduction to the Kwak’wala Language © 2009 Patricia A. Shaw, UBC FNLG.
differently, learning how to pronounce Kwak’wala accurately may still be quite a
challenge!
Traditionally Kwak’wala, like the other Indigenous languages of the Pacific
northwest, persisted through millenia, transmitted from one generation to the next
as a vibrant oral tradition. Since colonial contact, a number of different
orthographic systems have been developed to write Kwak’wala. The
correspondences between the different symbols that have been used in 5 of the
most commonly referred to systems are presented in Appendix A, along with
references to the sources for them. We are going to focus on 2 of these systems:
these will be referred to as the U’mista and the NAPA orthographies. You will
notice that the other systems share many properties of these 2 systems, although
you will also see that the oldest of these – the system used by Boas – is the most
unique.
The U’mi sta orthography: Many Kwak’wala resource materials have been
developed through the U’mista Cultural Society, using what will be referred to
here as the “U’mista” orthography. This system was developed in the 1970s before the widespread use of computers and the availability of computer fonts. A
defining characteristic of this system is that all of the symbols can be written using
the letters, punctuation marks, and regular conventions (like capitalization and
underlining) available on a standard typewriter keyboard. The visual shapes of
these symbols were broadly broadly familiar through their use for English, and
being able to write the Kwak’wala language using a typewriter greatly facilitated
documentation of the language and the production of teaching materials.
The NAPA orthography: The acronym NAPA stands for the North American
Phonetic Alphabet, and follows traditional conventions that have been used for
almost a century by many linguists who have worked on the documentation of
many of the Indigenous languages across the continent. Readers who are familiar
with standard IPA (the International Phonetic Alphabet) usage will note that the
NAPA transcription differs systematically in its representation of certain classes
of sounds (e.g. affricates like c and ƛ are written with a single symbol in NAPA
rather than with a sequence of two symbols as in IPA, that is ts and tɬ, because
they function as single segments in the Kwak’wala sound system).
The various different symbols adopted in NAPA are not “new” symbols - for
example, symbols like λ and χ derive from the Greek alphabet. This
conventionalized system of phonetic symbols was established with the goal of
standardizing transcription internationally - that is, for writing any language in
the world. The principal criterion underlying the NAPA system is that for each
distinctive sound in the language there should be a single unique symbol.
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Ch 2. FNLG 141K Introduction to the Kwak’wala Language © 2009 Patricia A. Shaw, UBC FNLG.
In this type of orthography, each distinct speech sound - that is, each consonant
and vowel - is represented by a separate symbol, so that there is basically a oneto-one correspondence between sounds and symbols. This means that once you
learn what sound a particular symbol stands for, then you can sound out a word
on your own and figure out from the written word how it should be pronounced.
Using a phonetically-based orthographic system also helps people learn to
recognize what kinds of differences there are in the pronunciation of words by
different speakers and in related dialects across the Kwak’wala community.
Finally, becoming familiar with these phonetic symbols will enable you to use
any of the linguistic resource materials on Kwak’wala which are listed in the
References section in the Appendix. These materials contain much valuable
information on the language, and understanding the phonetically-based
orthographies will prove to be a very useful tool in accessing that information.
If you are familiar with literacy systems for other First Nations languages from
the Northwest, you may notice that many of the symbols that are not part of the
English alphabet are nonetheless already familiar to you. Symbols like ɬ ə q 
(along with the others) are used in writing several other languages in the area.
Consequently, learning how to read Kwak’wala using this system will be useful
in helping you to interpret written materials not only in related Wakashan
languages like Nuu-chah-nulth, but also in other neighbouring languages, like
Coast Salish həəmiə, Northern Interior Salish Nɬeʔkepmxcin, and several
others.
2.3.3. Why use a phonetically-based alphabet?
There are many important and complex issues involved in the choice of an orthography for a language. Different goals and different contexts define different
choices. You may be wondering:
Why bother with all these phonetic symbols?
The principal goal here is to help students learn how to pronounce Kwak’wala
accurately, and to help them identify relationships between different words and
sounds in the languages.
It is important to realize that learning any new language as an adult doesn’t
involve all of the same cognitive strategies that learning a language as a baby
does. A very special and unique aspect of the human species is that babies are
born with an innate capacity to learn language. The language capacity of an
average four- or five-year-old child is quite amazing - without having learned how
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Ch 2. FNLG 141K Introduction to the Kwak’wala Language © 2009 Patricia A. Shaw, UBC FNLG.
to read, without having studied how to put verb forms together or how to make a
subordinate clause, and all this without ever having to concentrate on not
pronouncing words with an accent! Children simply soak up all the marvelous
intricacies of whatever language is spoken around them. Unfortunately it seems
that most adults somehow lose this ability to learn languages quite so effortlessly.
The Kwak’wala language is wonderfully complex: it has a lot more sounds than
the ‘average’ language, its words are structured with considerable internal
complexity, and its syntax (that is, its sentence structure) is also intricate and very
different from English. The goal of an orthographic system for the adult language
learner, then, is for it to be a significant help in learning. An orthography is just a
tool though, and just one tool.
The most important thing to remember is that Kwak’wala is not traditionally a
written language. It is a language with a rich and vital oral tradition that has been
passed down through the centuries from generation to generation.
That’s why it’s so important to learn how to pronounce Kwak’wala well. Listening
to the voices of the elders and the teachers is undoubtedly the best single way to
achieve this goal.
But other things, including a phonetically-based orthography, can help significantly. That being said, a related question that some of you may have is:
Why not just use the English alphabet?
There are at least two major prob lems with the English alphabet for the present
purposes. The fi rst problem is that the English writing system is itself not at all
an internally consistent system and consequently is, in many important ways, particularly for a population literate in English - not an optimal model. The
second problem is that Kwak’wala has many more sounds than English. Let’s
consider each of these factors in some detail.
Issue 1: Consi stency
One of the major problems - and this is a real problem for people learning how to
read English - is that the same symbol (i.e. letter) often represents very different
sounds. For example, listen to the sound written as ‘s’ in each of the following
words:
cats
dogs
issue
They’re all different! The ‘s’ in the first example cats is really an [s], but the ‘s’ in
dogs is really a [z], and the two s’s in issue are really just one sound, which is
represented in the orthography adopted here as [ß].
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Ch 2. FNLG 141K Introduction to the Kwak’wala Language © 2009 Patricia A. Shaw, UBC FNLG.
There are lots of other cases like this one. Some more examples are given below.
Same Letters
Different Sound
English Example Transcription
th
ƒ
thing
ƒˆº
th
∂
this
∂ˆs
c
s
circus
s¢rk¢s
c
k
case
kes
c
æ
cello
æ´lo
Can you think of other problematic cases which are similar?
Another type of common problem is where English uses different letters, but to
represent the same sound. Some examples of this are given in the following tables:
Problematic variance with Engli sh sounds
Different Letters
Same Sound
ch
æ
chief
æif
tch
æ
stitch
stˆæ
k
k
look
l¨k
c
k
crab
kråb
ck
k
dock
dak
ch
k
ache
÷ek
cc
k
accomplish
÷¢ka¡mplˆß
s
s
see
si
c
s
cinnamon, spice
sˆ¡n¢mˆn, sp¢ys
sc
s
muscle
mə́səl
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English Example Transcription
Ch 2. FNLG 141K Introduction to the Kwak’wala Language © 2009 Patricia A. Shaw, UBC FNLG.
sh
ß
shell
ß´l
ch
ß
champagne
šæmpén
s
ß
sure
ßur ~ ßor
ti
ß
nation
néšən
Yet another type of problem is where there is more than one symbol representing a
sound, or vice versa. Listen carefully to yourself as you pronounce each word in
the leftmost column in the Table below. In particular, think about what you hear
where there is an underlined letter (or space!). Each example represents a different
kind of violation of the optimal one-to-one correspondence between symbol and
sound.
Other types o f violation s o f one-to-one correspondence:
English Examples
Transcription
# of Symbols
# of Sounds
no symbol
1 sound
1 symbol
no sound
music
myuzˆk
prince
prˆnts
__oh__oh
÷o ÷o
scales
skelz
knock
nak
sigh
say
2 symbols
no sound
axe
֌ks
1 symbol
2 sounds
I
÷ay
solution
s¢luߢn
2 symbols
1 sound
fish
fˆß
think
ƒˆºk
piece, peace
pis
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Ch 2. FNLG 141K Introduction to the Kwak’wala Language © 2009 Patricia A. Shaw, UBC FNLG.
Here are some more examples where the number of alphabetic symbols (letters)
used in English doesn't match the number of sounds:
English Examples
Transcription
# of Symbols
# of Sounds
1 sound
1 sound
hello
h´lo
huckleberry
hək¢lb´ri
2 identical
letters
potlatch
patlåæ
3 letters
The discussion above has focussed on the first type of problem which would be
entailed by basing an alphabet for Kwak’wala on that used for English: as you
have seen, there are lots of different types of inconsistencies in the English
alphabetic system which make it difficult to learn. A second type of problem
which is encountered if one tries to adapt the English alphabet for a language like
Kwak’wala is that the sheer number of sounds in the languages is significantly
different.
Issue 2: Kwak’wala ha s MANY mo re sounds than English !
First, it's important to point out that the alphabet which is used for English didn't
originate with English. It evolved over a long period of time, and is built primarily
on symbols from earlier Roman and Greek alphabets, which in turn developed
from an ancient Phoenician system dating back to 1000 B.C. The English alphabet
currently uses 26 letters: 21 for consonants and 5 for vowels. Of course, as seen
above, various combinations of letters can be used to represent single consonant or
vowel sounds too (e.g. laugh , please ). From the preceding discussion, you will
have undoubtedly realized that English has more sounds than its alphabet has
unique letters for.
However, Kwak’wala has many more sounds than English. Also, several of these
sounds are really very different from English sounds. Consequently, the English
alphabet just doesn’t have enough symbols in it to allow for a very compatible
correspondence between sound and symbol for Kwak’wala. The next section
provides an introduction to the inventory of sounds in Kwak’wala.
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Ch 2. FNLG 141K Introduction to the Kwak’wala Language © 2009 Patricia A. Shaw, UBC FNLG.
2.4. The So unds o f Kwak’wala
In studying the sounds of Kwak’wala, we will briefly introduce the 5 vowels, then
focus on the large inventory of conson ants, and then return to consider the
vowels in greater detail in a later chapter.
2.4.1. Vowel symbols fo r Kwak’wal a
There are 5 “full” vowels in Kwak’wala, represented by the familiar symbols:
i e a o u. The following English words provide a useful comparison for the
pronunciation of each. You are already familiar with representative Kwak’wala
words with each of these sounds:
English
Kwak’wala
gloss
i
pizza
ik
ʔik
good
e
bet
nage
nəgɛ́
mountain
u
flute
hamumu
həmúmu
butterfly
o
hope
ola
ʔóla
truth
a
fat < > father
ada
ʔáda
grandmother
The sixth vowel is Schwa: The only new vowel symbol which is used for
Kwak’wala is called schwa. In the U’mista orthography, schwa is represented by
an underlined a . In the NAPA orthography, it looks like an e rolled over upsidedown: ə . English also has a schwa sound, but it is not represented by an
independent symbol in the English alphabet. Virtually every vowel symbol in
English is used to represent schwa!
schwa in En glish:
above
competition
photography
but
In Kwak’wala, schwa is rather like a chameleon – schwa changes its sound value
to adapt to different environments! Because these different values of schwa are all
predictable, depending on the adjacent sounds, a single symbol “ə” is used in the
Kwak’wala orthography to represent the variant realizations.
schwa in Kwak’wala
gloss
am
ʔəm
yes
’makwala
əkʷəlá
moon
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Ch 2. FNLG 141K Introduction to the Kwak’wala Language © 2009 Patricia A. Shaw, UBC FNLG.
You will doubtless have already noticed that schwa occurs very frequently in
Kwak’wala!
More details about schwa’s pronunciation and very interesting behaviour will be
introduced throughout this text, but in the meantime – listen carefully! Your ears
are your best guide to good pronunciation.
2.4.2. How many different consonan ts?!
To provide you with a basis of understanding what new sounds you'll need to learn
in order to pronounce Kwak’wala correctly, it will be useful to compare briefly the
consonant sounds of Kwak’wala with the consonant sounds of English.
There are 25 consonant sound s in Eng lish, as shown below.
p
t
æ
k
b
d
∆
g
f
ƒ
s
ß
v
∂
z
Ω
m
n
l
r
÷
h
y
[º]
w
Now compare the English inventory above with the much larger number of consonants found in Kwak’wala.
Kwak’wala consonants: How many are there?
p
t
c
ƛ
k
kʷ
q
q∑
π
†
ç
«
˚
˚∑
œ
Ϸ
b
d
d
λ
g
gʷ
G
G∑
s
ɬ
x
xʷ
χ
χʷ
m
n
l
y
w
Â
˜
Ò
Á
„
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÷
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Ch 2. FNLG 141K Introduction to the Kwak’wala Language © 2009 Patricia A. Shaw, UBC FNLG.
2.4.3. Consonants that Kwak’wala a nd Engli sh share
Because there are so many different consonants, our first focus will be on the
consonants which Kwak’wala and English share.
Compare the two charts above. You may want to take a pencil, and circle in the
Kwak’wala consonant chart those sounds which are shared with English. You
should have found the following 14 consonants:
Consonants which occur in both Kw ak’wala and Engli sh:
p
t
[c ]
k
b
d
[d ]
g
[kʷ]
÷
h
s
m
n
l
y
w
So, how many sounds are left over? See if you can find which additional
consonant sounds occur in Kwak’wala but not in English, and then compare what
you find with the chart below.
Consonants which occur in Kwak’w ala but not in Engli sh:
π
†
(c)
ƛ
ç
«
( kʷ ) q
˚
( d ) λ
Â
˜
q∑
˚∑
œ
Ϸ
gʷ
G
G∑
χ
χʷ
ɬ
x
xʷ
Ò
Á
„
As you can see, the sound inventory of Kwak’wala is wonderfully rich! There are
25 -28 different sounds not found in English (depending on how you count them).
Many of these sounds are actually quite rare in the inventories of languages from a
global perspective (sounds like « œ œ∑ ⋲∑  ˜ Ò Á „ ). This extensive
inventory of sounds is just one aspect of the very special and unique heritage of
the Kwak’wala language.
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