Whispered Endings

This is a very unique feature of Onʌyoteʔa·ká where the last syllable of a word is actually whispered. This occurs only on words that are prepausal (but it doesn‘t always occur on prepausal words). A prepausal word is a word that occurs at the end of a sentence or is the only word in a sentence. This is written using an underline under the vowel that is whispered, for example áhsʌ̲.

The alternative to prepausal is medial. You may see the abbreviations PF and MF for prepausal form and medial form, respectively.

A word that is in prepausal form may have its stress placed on a different syllable than its corresponding medial form. For example: kahyatuhslí né· thíkʌ̲   vs.   hʌ, kahyatúhsehli̲.

In this curriculum all words are given in medial form unless they appear prepausal in the dialogue examples. As with the Hs, beginning students must listen closely to pick up the pronunciation to know when to use it effectively as not all prepausal words have whispered endings. For example, úska is fully pronounced in prepausal form.