Sounds and Letters in Hiráaca

The spelling system that we refer to in this section is a spelling system and alphabet that was originally developed by Linguist Wes Jones, and MHA community educators in 1978. Although there is not a standardized Hiráaca orthography, many community members have used this spelling to teach the language.

One benefit of this spelling system is that much of the letters and speech sound distinctions are the same in Hidatsa as they would be in English, as it uses the same Latin-script letters. It does not use any special fonts or characters,

Below is a description of speech sounds in Hiráaca

Writing for Hidatsa Speakers

Hiráaca Alphabet Chart

This Alphabet Chart was created by The Language Conservancy utilizing the Jones and MHA Community Educator spelling system (1978).

Hiráaca Consonants and Vowels:

Consonants: Speech sounds that are made by obstructing or blocking airflow in the vocal tract.

The following are consonants in Hidatsa:

[b], [p], [t], [d], [g], [k], [m], [n], [r], [sh], [h], [c], [w], ['] - These consonants are very similar to the English sounds written with these letters.

Consonant audio and word examples

Vowels: Speech sounds made with unobstructed or unblocked airflow thorugh the vocal tract.

There are short and long vowels in Hiráaca, and produce slightly different sounds, so we will count ten (10) vowels in Hiráaca. "Some vowel sounds in Hidatsa take longer to say than others. We say that there are long vowels and short vowels." (Jones, 1978).

The following are vowels in Hiráaca:

[a], [áa], [e], [ée], [i], [íi], [u], [úu], [o], [óo]

Vowel audio and word examples