Karuk Language Resources on the Web

Pronunciation Guide: Vowels

The Karuk language has 8 vowel sounds and 16 consonant sounds. The vowels are as follows:

A is similar to English “a” in “father”. Karuk examples are the following.

áka “father”

áchakich “puppy”

AA is similar to A, but twice as long.

áan “string”

achnaat “rat”

Listen for the difference between A and AA in these words:

as “rock”

áas “water”

EE is always long (there is no short E). The sound is similar to the “ee” in English “entrée” or the “ai” in “aim”.

éepuum “root”

chéemyaach “quickly”

I is similar to English “i” in “machine”.

ípi “bone”

pimnáanih “summer”

II is similar to I, but twice as long.

íim “you”

íkiich “maybe”

Listen for the difference between I and II:

íkam “son-in-law”

íikiv “necklace”

OO is always long (there is no short O). The sound is similar to English “oo” in “home”:

ôok “here”

koovúra “all”

U is similar to English “u” in “tune”.

úruh “round”

súpaah “day”

UU is similar to U, but twice as long.

úus “pine cone”

túuyship “mountain”

Listen for the difference between U and UU:

úchish “milk”

úuchich “breast”

Note that some vowels are pronounced on a higher pitch or tone than others. These vowels are written with an acute accent mark, as in many examples above.

When a vowel has no accent mark, it is pronounced with a steady low pitch, as in the following examples.

kuuf “skunk”

achiich “louse”

ishpuk “money”

Listen for the difference between accent and no accent in the following words:

páah “boat”

paah “peppernut”

In a few words, the pitch is neither high nor low, but falling from a high level to a low level. This falling pitch is written with a circumflex accent, as follows:

kêemish “wild animal”

ikríish “sit down!”

Listen for the difference between high pitch (acute accent) and low pitch (circumflex accent) in the following pair:

púufich “deer” (high pitch)

pûuvish “bag” (falling pitch)