742 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 40 



§ 3. Sounds 



Consonants 

 The system of consonants is represented by the following table : ^ 



stop Spirant Nasal Lateral 



and affricative 



Glottal 



Post-palatal Ic, g - - - 



Palatal 'fc 



Alveolar - c,s - I 



Dental t,H,d ts, tc n - 



Labial j), Pf ^ ~ '^ - 



h, '7iw, y 



^ a soft glottal stop resembling a feeble whispered cough. It occurs 

 before initial vowels : ^a'tci/ lacrosse stick. 



[' intervocalic is presumably a spirant with glottal stricture. — T. M.] 



' denotes a whispered continuant before the articulation of Jc, t, and p. 

 [The closure is so gradual that the corresponding spirant is 

 heard faintly before tlie stop, so that the combination is the 

 reverse of the fricative. Thus d'pydtd when he came is to 

 bo pronounced nearly as dfpydtc^ with bilabial /. — T. M.] 

 It occurs also before h. 



Ji an aspirate sound almost like li in hall, hail, hull. It is soft breath 

 with feeble friction passing the vocal chords, and continuing on 

 through the narrowed glottis: nahi' hey! listen! 



^h an aspirate of the same origin as h, but without an inner arrest. 

 The tongue is drawn back and raised high, making the air- 

 passage narrow ; it has a sudden release at the moment almost 

 of seeming closure: ma''hwd^w"- wolf. 



hw a bilabial, aspirate glide, starting at first like h, and ending with 

 the air-passage wider and the ridge of the tongue slightly 

 lowered : pa'nAhwd'^w"' he missed hitting him. 



Tc like the Z:-sound in caw, crawl. The stoppage makes and bursts 

 without delay on the forward part of the soft palate: Icaho' 

 hist! 



1 It should be pointed out that in the Fox Texts d and t, g and k, b and p, often interchange. This 

 is due to the peculiar nature of 6, d, g. Dr. Jones has simply tried to record the sounds as he heard 

 them when taking down the stories. Wherever such fluctuation occurs, the actual sound pronounced 

 was undoubtedly 6, d, g. As an example we may give wdxiA wdhA to look at. — T. M. 



§3 



