202 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES 



sound after sound, not noticeably lengthening or stressing any one 

 sound, but making each, in lazy fashion, as much as practicable like 

 preceding and following sounds, that is, making short cuts and agree- 

 ments, evening or levelling sounds, to a degree which would not be 

 tolerated in any European language of which I know. Thus Ute 

 "a" may vary from a sound as in English "met" to one similar to 

 that in EngUsh "bMt," or again to one approaching that in English 

 "on" or "what." Ute "k" appears now as a deep velar guttural, 

 now as the "c" or "k" in EngKsh "cart" or "^ey," now as a "ky" 

 sound approaching English "ch" — and in every instance it has its 

 particular quality because of surrounding sounds. 



No coming together of consonants exists in the Ute language. 

 Even when in rapid pronunciation a consonant appears to follow 

 another immediately, slower or more careful pronunciation reveals 

 the fact that a vowel intervenes between the two consonants in ques- 

 tion. Thus one may think he hears, for instance, kmtpmtjyaka, 

 "it is a hat," but kM^tui/>uitJyaka is really pronounced. Ute speech 

 is composed of syllables of apparently practically equal length, each 

 of which consists either of a vowel only, or of a consonant plus a 

 vowel. 



A peculiar and difficultly acquired feature of the Ute language 

 is the existence of a voiceless counterpart of every voiced sound. 

 Voiced and voiceless counterparts require exactly the same position 

 of the oral and nasal organs. The only difference is that in pro- 

 nouncing voiced sounds the vocal cords vibrate, whereas in pronoun- 

 cing voiceless sounds the vocal cords do not vibrate. Voiceless sounds 

 are not whispered. Whispering requires a special adjustment of the 

 larynx. They merely lack voice, as can be easily demonstrated 

 by laying the fingers on the larynx while voiced and voiceless sounds 

 are being produced. In the case of voiced sounds the \qbration can 

 be plainly felt, which in the case of voiceless sounds is lacking. The 

 vowels of final syllables are either wholly or partially voiceless, having 

 their final portion at least without voice, that is, ending in voiceless 

 breath of the timbre of the vowel. Also many not final syllables 

 appear occasionally without voice, for reasons not understood. 



