Pronunciation Guide

a ā e ē i ī o ō u ū ’ b ch ch’ d dl dz dẕ g gh h j k k’ kh l ł m n nh p s s̱ sh t t’ tl tl’ ts ts’ ts̱ ts̱’ w y yh z ẕ

Click on any of the 47 letters along the top of this page to learn more about that letter and hear it pronounced by first language speakers.

Each letter’s entry features the Tāłtān letter, an English equivalent or an explanation of how to produce the sound, and a series of words that contain the letter in context. Click on the speaker icon [ICON] next to each word in order to hear it spoken aloud.

Pronunciation and Tāłtān Dialects
The speakers and elders who contributed their knowledge and voices to create this dictionary are speakers of the Tāłtān dialects commonly associated with Telegraph Creek and Iskut, BC. Any words or pronunciations that are considered specific to a particular dialect are labelled as such throughout the dictionary.

It is important to remember that language and identity are very closely tied for all people. Each person carries their own unique set of life experiences with them and this can affect the way a person speaks. Pronunciation and word choice will always vary from person to person, family to family, and community to community. This dictionary was designed to help make the Tāłtān language easily accessible to learners and therefore does not aim to document every possible pronunciation that exists. That said, inclusivity, accuracy, and an appropriate representation of Tāłtān worldviews are the guiding principles behind its design and our hope is that speakers of all Tāłtān dialects will feel their language is appropriately represented by the content here.