Of the Haida alphabet, there are 20 letters or characters that sound approximately the same way in Haida as they do in English. They are
b ch d dl g
h i j k l
m n ng p s
t tl ts w y
h i j k l
m n ng p s
t tl ts w y
Of the vowels in the Haida alphabet there are 6 letters with similar English sounds, such as
Xaad = English
aa = a
ei = ay
íi = ea
uu = oo
ú = u
Those letters, then are easy spoken for an English speaker, and not necessary to represent using audio.
The remaining 16 sounds represented by the Haida alphabet need some help with audio to pronounce it correctly. These letters are:
g | hl | ’l | t’ |
k’ | k | k’ | tl’ |
x | x | ts’ |
Letters without audio
a ĝ p’ ’w x̂ ya’
English like Haida Words
Some words in Haida sound nearly exactly the same in English. This is because some English consonants are hard for Haida speakers to pronounce and no such word existed in Haida, this dictionary may contain some words borrowed from English.
The letter B is very difficult for Haida speakers to pronounce for instance. If they wish to say, "big," they invariably say "pig."
Haidas were also unable to pronounce the F and V sounds correctly. When they wish to say Victoria, vinegar, flute, flour or found, they distinctly pronounce "Bictoria, binegar, plute, plour, pound."
Also the old people would always pronounce the english R as an L sound. Thus they say "labbit, liver, lice, lum, litle," for "rabbit, river, rice, rum and rifle."
Below is a partial list of words, borrowed from English.
The letter B is very difficult for Haida speakers to pronounce for instance. If they wish to say, "big," they invariably say "pig."
Haidas were also unable to pronounce the F and V sounds correctly. When they wish to say Victoria, vinegar, flute, flour or found, they distinctly pronounce "Bictoria, binegar, plute, plour, pound."
Also the old people would always pronounce the english R as an L sound. Thus they say "labbit, liver, lice, lum, litle," for "rabbit, river, rice, rum and rifle."
Below is a partial list of words, borrowed from English.
dáalaa
dollar, money, silver
cháagaas
checkers
chéen
chain
jáam
jam
kwaadaa
quarter; twenty-five cents
láayaa
lawyer
láad
lard
masíin
machine
swédaa
sweater
súub
soup
súgaa
sugar
