Pawnee Language Learning

kâkî’ - no (There are some native speakers who ignore the glottal stop on the end.)

Nora Pratt says, kâkî'

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SOUTHBAND

âhu' - yes

SKIDI

hâ’u' - yes

Which dialect to you choose if your Pawnee family comes from multiple bands? Traditionally, the Pawnee were a matriarchal society, and bands were chosen based on the mother’s family. Husbands who married into the family from a different band were adopted into the wife’s band and their children were considered part of their mother’s band. But, colonization changed that, since most of Europe is patriarchal. So, if you’re a traditionalist, choose your mother’s or grandmother’s band. If you’re not a traditionalist, you can choose your father’s or grandfather’s band.

What if you don’t know which band your Pawnee ancestors were from? You can go to PawneeNation.org and contact the enrollment office. They are helpful, but they are also busy. You can also email me at [email protected]—I would be happy to help you learn more about your Pawnee relatives.

Nora Pratt says, hâ'u'

čikstit - to be well. [ č ] is pronounced ‘ch’ as in “church".”

pari’ - to go about

We’ll dissect the sentence and all its parts in episode 20.

In Pawnee, your voice does not rise at the end of a sentence if it’s a question. Your voice drops for questions in Pawnee.

Funny PS: Substack automatically creates a transcript for these podcasts. It auto-created “Chick Stit Cut A Spuddy” for čikstit karaspari’. I don’t know how y’all feel about Oklahoma Governor Stitt right now, but I’m sure there are some people who think he’s a chick(en). So, if this helps you remember the phrase, just think of Governor Stitt—Chick Stitt Cut A Spuddy. (Spud is another word for potato.)

Pawnee Language Learning is a reader-supported publication. To support the Pawnee Language Program, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

c - the ‘ts’ sound in tsk, tsunami, tsar, catsup, hotspot, cats, suits.

č - the ‘ch’ sound in Charlie, church, churlish

h - the breathy ‘h’ in “aha!”

k - the soft ‘k’ in skate, skip, skin; not the hard ‘k’ in Kate, king, kind.

p - soft ‘p’ as in spot, special, spice; not the hard ‘p’ in pop, pot, pebble.

s - as in snake, snout, sassy.

t - soft ‘t’ as in stop, stay, sting; not the hard ‘t’ in top, Tom, talk,

w - as in water, wash, window

[ ‘ ] - glottal stop as in uh-oh

Pawnee has a total of 16 sounds in the Skidi dialect, and 18 sounds in the Southband dialect. That’s not very many sounds! And all of the sounds are found in English.

A big thank you to our Pawnee tribal linguists, Taylor Moore and Zach Rice for choosing a writing system that is so straightforward.

Pawnee Language Learning is a reader-supported publication. To support the Pawnee Language Program, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

tâtakita - I am

SOUTHBAND (SB)

čârikstâka’ - white (Caucasian); čâriks=person, tâka’=white

čârikskâtît - Black; čâriks=person, kâtît=black

SKIDI (SK)

čâhikstâka’ - white (Caucasian); čâhiks=person, tâka’=white

čâhikskâtît - Black; čâhiks=person, kâtît-black

BOTH BANDS

kiripasi’ - Asian; kiri=eyes, pasi’=narrow

The Pawnee [ č ] is pronounced ‘ch’, like the ‘ch’ in “church” and “Charlie.”

Nora Pratt is Skidi Pawnee. Listen to her pronunciation below:

Nora Pratt says, Čâhikskâtît

Nora Pratt says, Kiripasi'

Pawnee Language Learning is a reader-supported publication. To support the Pawnee Language Program, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

”

We will go over all the Pawnee consonant sounds in episode 13.

tâtakita - I am

kirikûruks - Wichita. Literally, it means ‘bear eyes’.

pasâsi’ - Osage

The Pawnee ‘k’ is a soft ‘k’, pronounced like the ‘k’ in ‘skate’, not a hard ‘k’ as in ‘Kate.’

We will review all the Pawnee consonants in episode 13.

Nora Pratt says, Kirikûruks

Nora Pratt says, Pasâsi'

Pawnee Language Learning is a reader-supported publication. To support the Pawnee Language Program, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

tâtakita - I am

astârâhi - Arikara

pasûhara - Otoe

The Pawnee ‘h’ in between vowels is pronounced like the English ‘h’ in ‘hat’.

We will review all the Pawnee consonants in episode 12.

Nora Pratt says, Pasûhara

Nora Prat says, Astârâhi

Pawnee Language Learning is a reader-supported publication. To support the Pawnee Language Program, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

tâtakita - I am

pâri’ - Pawnee

The Pawnee ‘r’ is a flapped ‘r’, pronounced like the Spanish ‘r’ in Rodriguez or Rafael, or the Japanese ‘r’ in ramen. English does have this sound, it’s the middle sound in the word “butter” and “ladder”. If you are having trouble flapping your ‘r’, you can use a soft ‘d’ sound, or an ‘L’ or even an ‘n’ sound. The early English-speaking settlers couldn’t pronounce Pâri’, so it became Pani, then Pawnee.

The Pawnee ‘p’ is a soft ‘p’, pronounced like the ‘p’ is “spot” or “spray”, not the hard ‘p’ as in “pop” or “Patty.”

Pawnee Language Learning is a reader-supported publication. To support the Pawnee Language Program, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Tâtasa’ - I am called______. It’s the equivalent of the English, My name is____.

The Pawnee ‘t’ is pronounced like the soft ‘t’ in ‘stop’ and ‘stay’, not the hard ‘t’ in Tom, trouble, or truck. Your tongue is behind your teeth.

Pawnee Language Learning is a reader-supported publication. To support the Pawnee Language Program, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

The Pawnee ‘s’ is pronounced the same as the English ‘s’.

*Vowel sounds used by both the Skidi and Southband dialects:

a - ‘a’ as in about, around, above, what, was. The “uh” sound.

â - ‘a’ as in father, water, walk and talk.

i - ‘i’ as in hit, sit, it, Indian.

î - ‘i’ as in machine, trampoline, magazine.

u - ‘u’ as in bush, push, cushion, and the vowel sound in foot and book.

û - ‘u’ as in consume, resume, tune and costume.

*Southband dialect has two more vowel sounds:

e - ‘e’ as in egg, bet, wet.

ê - ‘e’ as in café, fiancé, and the final ‘e’ sound in resumé.