{"collection":"Native American","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/nam/nav/nmps/nmps02.htm","path":"nam/nav/nmps/nmps02.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/nam/nav/nmps/nmps02.htm","text":"The characters used in this work, in spelling Navaho words, are given below, with the value assigned to each character.\na has the sound of English a in father.\n \u00e4 has the sound of English a in hat. has the sound of English a in what.\n a has the sound of English e in they. In some connections it varies to the sound of English e in their.\n \u00eb has the sound of English e in then.\n i has the sound of English i in marine.\n \u00ef has the sound of English i in tin.\n o has the sound of English o in bone.\n u has the sound of English u in rude.\n ai unmarked, or accented on the i (a\u00ed), is a diphthong having the sound of English i in bind. When it is accented on the a (\u00e1i), or has a diaeresis (a\u00ef), it is pronounced as two vowels.\n ow has the sound of English ow in how. It is heard mostly in meaningless syllables.\n A vowel followed by an inverted comma (`) is aspirated, or pronounced with a peculiar force which cannot be well represented by adding the letter h.\nb has the sound of English b in bat.\n d has the sound of English d in day.\n d represents a strongly aspirated dental sonant. It is often interchanged with d.\n g has the sound of English g in go, or, in some connections, the sound of English g in gay.\n g has a sound unknown in English. It is the velar g, like the Arabic ghain, or the Dakota g.\n h has the sound of English h in hat.\n h has the sound of German ch in machen. It is sometimes interchanged with h.\n k has usually the sound of English k in koran; but sometimes the sound of English k in king.\n l has the sound of English l in lay.\n l has a sound unknown in English. It is an aspirated surd l, made with the side rather than with the tip of the tongue. It is often interchanged with l.\n m has the sound. of English m in man.\n n has the sound of English n in name.\n n has the effect of French n in bon. It has no equivalent in English.\n s has the sound of English s in sand.\n s has the sound of English sh in shad. It is often interchanged with s.\n t has the sound of English t in tan.\n t represents a strongly aspirated dental surd. It is often interchanged with t.\n w has the sound of English w in war.\n y has the sound of English y in yarn.\n z has the sound of English z in zone.\n z has the sound of English z in azure. It is often interchanged with z.\n c, f, j, p, q, v, and x are not used. The sound of English ch in chance is represented by ts; that of English j in jug by dz.","title":"Alphabet.","type":"page"}