< Mi'kmaq language

The Mi'kmaq language's phonology consists of 6 short vowels and 5 long vowels as well as 11 consonants. In Mi'kmaq, each letter represents a sound.

The tables below show the Mi'kmaq characters in Francis-Smith and Listuguj orthographies (see Chapter 3 for more details) and their pronunciation using the symbols from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

Vowels

Francis-SmithListugujIPA
aaɑ
a'a'ɑː
eee
e'e'
iii
i'i'
ɨ'ə
ooo
o'o'
uuu
u'u'

Diphthongs

Francis-SmithListugujIPA
awawaw
ayayaj
ewewew
eyeyej
iwiwiw

Consonants

Francis-SmithListugujIPA
jjtʃ or dʒ
kgk or g
kwgwkw or kʷ
lll
mmm
nnn
ppp or b
qqx or ɣ
qwqwxw or xʷ
sss or z
ttt or d
www
yyj

When consonants are doubled, they must be pronounced with double length, as if there were a word break between the two consonants. Also note that in Mi'kmaq, the consonants l, m and n can also form syllabic peaks like vowels. As such, words don't need to have a vowel, as it is the case with "kmtm" (or "gmtm" depending on the orthography) meaning "mountain" for example.

External resources

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