And thus begins my study of Iñupiaq.
I'm sure I'll post here from time to time, even after the last leg of the Powwow. But for now I'll settle on one month of study. I don't intend to get too far. I'll be using materials from the ANLC that teach North Slope Iñupiaq. I plan to get through the first three chapters of the First Year Grammar book, which go over pronunciation, phonological processes, and an basic overview of grammar (parts of speech) respectively.
I've started going over the alphabet and pronunciation, so here we go:
Vowels:
a - aa
/a~a:/
i - ii
/ɪ~i:/
u - uu
/ʊ~u:/
Consonants:
p - /p/
t - /t/
[ṭ - /t͡ʃ/]
ch - /t͡ʃ/
k - /k/ normally, but occasionally /x/ (kh = /x/)
q - /q/ (qh = /x/)
[’]
ł - /ł/
ł̣ - /ʎ̥/
s - /s/
sr - /ʂ/
h - /h/
y - /j/
r - /ʐ/
g - /ɣ/ but also occasionally /x/ (we'll see when and why later)
ġ - /ʁ/ but also occasionally /χ/
m - /m/
n - /n/
ñ - /ɲ/
ŋ - /ŋ/
More to come!