There are 2 O’odham dictionaries (Mathiot and Saxton) and 1 grammar (Zepeda) book published. Neither of the dictionaries is written in the Alvarez-Hale orthography. Zepeda’s book has an orthographic system sound comparison as the 1st lesson. A part of that 1st lesson is the Alvarez – Hale orthography. There are modified versions of the Alvarez – Hale system which include additional consonants and symbols to create a broader understanding of differing dialects. This modified version is represented here. This modified version of the Alvarez/Hale orthography uses twenty-one consonants and five vowels. Other symbols are used to determine the length of the vowel. (The following letters are not used: f, q, r, v, x, & z). To accommodate local dialect these symbols were added to the Alvarez/Hale orthography: d & v.
Pronunciation Guide
The location of stress within a word – the stress on most O’odham words is consistently in initial position (first syllable).
The glottal stop (‘) is a sound produced by a stoppage of air in the throat and is also found in certain expressions in English. For example, “uh-oh”, as in “uh-oh, I think we’re in trouble!”
The vowel sounds in O’odham can be drawn out to a long sound or cut off as a short sound. The sound of a long or short vowel does not change – it is simply held for a longer or shorter duration.
A colon (:) following a vowel represents a long vowel. Long vowels can appear in any syllable of a word.
A vowel with a breve (˘) over it represents a short vowel. Short vowels, which are almost whispered, usually occur at the end of a word.
Plurals are created by reduplication of a singular word: reduplication of the first consonant and vowel, or just the initial vowel. (Example: gogs – gogogs or mi:tol – mimi:tol). Used in lower case, o’odham refers simply to people, and in upper case, O’odham refers to speakers of the O’odham language.
Resource ~ Zepeda, Ofelia. “The Papago Grammar.”
Vowels
Long Vowels
A few words use vowels that have a symbol above them called a breve. A vowel with a breve above it is only found at the end of words and can be difficult to hear. It may simply sound like an aspiration.
Diphthongs
When two vowels occur together in an O’odham word, the resulting diphthongs (the second vowel is always “i”) can produce new sounds.
Engwa
