EI OTA | GE AcVENeA TH, 
Cone ASR Hake ole 
PHONOLOGY. 
THE ALPHABET. 
VOWELS. 
The vowels are five in number, and have each one uniform sound, 
except when followed by the nasal ‘y,” which somewhat modifies them. 
a has the sound of English « in father. 
e has the sound of Enelish ¢ in they, or of a in face. 
i has the sound of 7 in marine, or of e in me. 
ra) has the sound of English o in go, note. 
u has the sound of in rude, or of 00 in food. 
CONSONANTS. 
The consonants are twenty-four in number, exclusive of the sound 
represented by the apostrophe (’). 
b has its common English sound. 
é is an aspirate with the sound of English ci, as in chin. In the 
Dakota Bible and other printing done in the language, it 
has not been found necessary to use the diacritical mark.* 
é is an emphatie é. It is formed by pronouncing “é” with a 
strong pressure of the organs, followed by a sudden expul- 
sion of the breath. 
d has the common Enelish sound. 
g has the sound of g hard, as in go. 
o represents a deep sonant guttural resembling the Arabic ghai 
(€). Formerly represented by y simply.t 
h has the sound of / in English. 
h represents a strong surd guttural resembling the Arabic kha (Z). 
Formerly represented by r.{ 
* For this sound Lepsius recommends the Greek y. 
+ This and k, p, t, are called cerebrals by Lepsius. 
: This and Z correspond with Lepsius, except in the form of the diaeritical mark. 
