Timucua Pronunciation and Spelling Guide

Welcome to our Timucua alphabet page! The following charts show the pronunciation for the Timucua orthography we have used on our site, as well as some alternate spellings that you may find in other books and websites.

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Timucua Vowels

Character We Use:	Sometimes Also Used:	IPA symbol:	Timucua pronunciation:
a		a	Like the a in father.
e		e	Like the e sound in Spanish, similar to the a in gate.
i	y	i	Like the i in police.
o		o	Like o in note.
u	v	u	Like the u in flute.

Timucua Consonants

Character We Use:	Sometimes Also Used:	IPA symbol:	Timucua pronunciation:
b	v, gu, hu	β ~ w	Pronunciation unclear, probably like the bilabial v sound in Spanish words like navidad. May have been pronounced like w in way in some cases.
c	q, k, qu	k	Hard c as in cold. As in Spanish, this letter appears only before the vowels a, o, and u. When a hard c sound appears before e or i in a Timucua word, it was spelled with a q instead.
ch	č	t	Like ch in chair.
f	h, b	Φ	Pronunciation unclear, probably like the bilabial f sound used in Japanese (pronounced by narrowing your lips and blowing through them, as if you were playing a flute.)
h	j, g	h	Like h in hay.
l		l	Like l in light.
m		m	Like m in moon.
n		n	Like n in night.
p		p	Like p in pin.
q	c, k, qu	k	Hard c as in cold. This letter is only written before the vowels e or i. As in Spanish, the letter c was used to represent the same sound before the vowels a, o, and u.
qu	cu	k^w	Like the qu in queen.
r			Like the r in Spanish pero, somewhat like the tt in American English butter.
s	c, ç	s	Like the s in sun.
t	d	t ~ d	Like t in tie. After n it was pronounced like the d in die.
y	i	j	Like y in yes.

Timucua Indian Pronunciation and Vocabulary Resources

   Timucua words
   Timucua picture dictionary
   Timucua numbers
   Native Americans of the Southeast
   Languages of Florida