Mandan Letters and Sounds

Nasal sounds: in Mandan, there are nasal sounds that look like this: ą, ąą, į, įį, ų, and ųų. The vowels a, i, and u are also spoken with a nasal sound when following the consonants n or m even without the special character. These sounds appear in American English for certain words. For example, the vowels in the words ‘pan’, ‘Sam’ and ‘lamb’ are also nasal sounds. Try saying the word ‘pan’, but right before you say the letter ‘n’, stop! Congratulations, you just produced a nasal sound!

Glottal stop: You may notice that in Mandan, the apostrophe appears in certain words. This symbol corresponds to a sound called the glottal stop. This sound can be found right in the middle of the word ‘uh-oh’, right after ‘uh’ but before ‘oh’. Try saying ‘uh-oh’, but before you go on to say ‘oh’, keep your mouth still! Now try breathing – when you make a glottal stop, the back of your mouth closes which is why you can’t seem to take a breath of air.

Stress accent: words in Mandan have accent marks that look like this: á, í, and é. These marks mean that certain parts of the words sound stronger meaning that they tend to sound longer, louder, and also have a higher pitch. For instance, notice that the English words ‘produce’ (fruits and vegetables) and ‘produce’ (to make something) sound very similar, but they’re actually different! In ‘produce’ (fruits and vegetables), the first part of the word tends to sound longer, louder and with higher pitch. The opposite is true for ‘produce’ (to make something).

X: The letter x in Mandan is a sound that does not appear in English. To produce this sound, prepare to say the sound k, but instead of making the sound that would normally sound like k, make a hissing noise like a cat. Make sure that the back of your tongue is almost touching the roof of your mouth.

Letter	Mandan word example	Listen	Meaning
A a	ímashut
Ą ą	istą́mi
AA aa	áakup
ĄĄ ąą	hą́ąsh
E e	ék
Ee ee	éexi
H h	hí’
I i	íparak
Į į	ptį́r
II ii	míiti
Įį įį	mį́įhe xíh
K k	karásisitka
M m	mapíksok
N n	náamini
O o	shópka
Oo oo	óoxa
P p	pó’
R r	róke
S s	sé’
Sh sh	shehék
T t	téetoki
U u	núp
Ų ų	shų́t
Uu uu	rúuhaare
Ųų ųų	ų́ųpa
W w	wáakta
X x	xą́h
‘	shé’