Language/Yaqui/Pronunciation/Alphabet-and-Pronunciation

Yaqui letters and Pronunciation

a	as in English father
e	as in Spanish peso usually, but also as "a" in English date
i	as in English meet
o	o as in Spanish poco
u	u as in English moon
b	as in Spanish adobe frequently, but also as in Spanish baca
ch	as in English church
d	d as in Spanish decir
f	f as in English foot
g	as in English go, but varies to "w" as in English word
h	as in English hard
k	k as in English kick
l	l as in English led
m	m as in English met
n	n as in English nice
p	p as in Spanish pan
r	as in English rest
s	s as in English see
t	t as in Spanish tengo
w	w as in English word
y	y as in English yes
'	the glottal stop, as in English in the hiatus between an apple

Yaqui Vowels

CharacterWe Use:	SometimesAlso Used:	IPA symbol:
a		a
aa	a·	a
e		e
ee	e·	e
i		i
ii	i·	i
o		o
oo	o·	o
u		u
uu	u·	u

Yaqui Consonants

CharacterWe Use:	SometimesAlso Used:	IPA symbol:
bw	bu, b	bw
ch	č, c	t
h		h
k		k
kt	tk
l		l
m		m ~
n		n ~
p		p
r
s		s
t		t
v	b	v ~ β
w	gu, g	w ~ gw
y		j
’	?, h

Yaqui Stress

Yaqui has less pronounced word stress than English. In English, unstressed vowels are often weakened to schwas, making the accent very strong. (An example of this is the word "rebel". When "rebel" is a noun, the stress is on the first syllable and the word is pronounced REH-bəl. When "rebel" is a verb, the stress is put on the second syllable and the word is pronounced rə-BELL).

However, in the Yaqui pronunciation, all vowels are pronounced fully regardless of stress. If you weaken an unstressed vowel to schwa, you can change the meaning of the word, so be careful not to!

Although the stress is less pronounced than in English, it is still present. Generally speaking, the stress is on the first long vowel in a Yaqui word, or in a word without long vowels, on the first syllable of the word.