9. Lakota k, p, t (plain stops)

Tókhel Lakȟól’iya takúku eyápi na owápi kiŋ hená uŋspéič’ičhiya so
Learn how to pronounce Lakota sounds and how to write them.

9. Lakota k, p, t (plain stops)

Postby Jan » February 11th, 2009, 2:59 am

The sounds represented by k, p, t are called STOPS. Stops play a very important role in Lakota sound system and learning them properly is fundamental for both accurate pronunciation and listening comprehension.
There are four sets of stops in Lakota and we will begin with a set called PLAIN STOPS.

Plain stops

If your first language is English then you have to pay extra attention to this chapter on plain stops. Plain stops do have exact English analogues, but in English they occur in different positions of the word, and speakers of English are usually unable to hear and pronounce them in other positions, unless they train themselves to do so. This is how you can do it:

Place the palm of your hand very close to your mouth and say the following words:

kill
pill
till


If you are a native English speaker you should feel a puff of air coming out of your mouth upon the palm of your hand. This puff of air is called aspiration. In phonetic transcription it is sometimes represented with a superscript h: khill, phill, thill.
Place the palm of your hand close to your mouth again and say the following words:

skill
spill
still


Note, that the puff of air (aspiration) is not present when pronouncing these words. In other words, when k, p, t occur after 's' they are no longer aspirated in English, they are PLAIN or unaspirated! These plain stops are exactly the same as the Lakota plain stops. To train yourself to pronounce them, try the following: say the word "skill" several times and then say it again without the initial 's' but with the same pronounciation of 'k' as if the 's' were still present: (s)kill.
Then do the same with the other stops:

skill skill skill (s)kill
spill spill spill (s)pill
still still still (s)till


To attain proper Lakota pronunciation you must first learn to de-aspirate your k, p, t and be able to pronounce plain (un-aspirated) stops in any word position, especially in the word’s initial position. (If your first Language is not English, this might not be difficult for you at all, depending on your first language.)

Notice that Lakota un-aspirated stops k, p, t may at first sound like g, b, d (as in gill, bill, dill) to an untrained ear of an English speaking person. In reality they do not sound like that. Make sure that you do not pronounce them as g, b, d, which will be quite challenging at the beginning of words. Word initial plain stops are somewhat difficult for English speakers to pronounce, but plain stops inside words are easier to say, as they occur in the same positions in some English words (e.g., in happy).

Plain stops are the most frequent of the Lakota stops. In any given text or speech, they constitute 75-80% of all stop sounds. It is therefore important to learn to recognize and pronounce them properly.

Examples of Lakota words with un-aspirated or plain stops are below:

kíza
kimímila
kál
kéyapi
kóza
kúŋ

pahá
púza
pispíza
peháŋ
popótka

táku
ité
tiktíča
tíŋsko
tópa
tuwé
Lé Jan miyé yeló.
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Re: 9. Lakota k, p, t (plain stops)

Postby Jan » October 5th, 2009, 12:41 am

Level 2 textbook, page 34

Listen to the audio track and select k, p or t:




1: halhá_a




2: gnugnúš_a




3: ȟo_á




4: siŋ_éȟla




5: s_á




6: iš_á




7: sá_a




8: iš_á




9: čhaŋ_ú




10: _íško




11: ša_ówiŋ




12: is_ó




13: na_é




14: heȟá_a




15: háŋ_a




16: _ahá




17: _uŋ_úŋ




18: wá_a




19: čhaŋ_é


Last bumped by Jan on October 5th, 2009, 12:41 am.
Lé Jan miyé yeló.
Blihíč’iyapi na Lakȟól’iyapi kiŋ čhaŋtét’iŋsya yutáŋyaŋkel uŋspéič’ičhiya po. Héčhel uŋglúkinipi kte ló.
Jan
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