1. Sounds and Spelling

What You’ll Learn

This lesson teaches the spelling habits you need before reading examples:

• every written vowel is pronounced;
• an apostrophe marks a short catch in the throat;
• th can stand for the breathy sound in “thin”;
• stress usually falls near the start of older words.

Start by Reading Slowly

Early Hick spelling is meant to be readable. A word like mater can be read in small pieces:

ma-ter
vessel, boat

A word like barak'er has a stem and an ending:

The apostrophe is not decoration. It marks a short catch in the throat, like the break in the middle of “uh-oh.” The technical name is a glottal stop.

Vowel Sounds

Early Hick does not use silent final vowels. Read each written vowel out loud. This matters for words like mope, which is read in two pieces:

mo-pe
no

The final e is part of the word’s sound.

Letter	Example	Read it roughly like
a	barak	a in “father”
e	pe, mope	e in “bed”; not silent
i	vinud	ee in “see”
o	tor, mope	o in “go”
u	ru, vinud	oo in “soon”

Some technical notes use an extra reduced-vowel symbol:

Symbol	Where you may see it	What it means
ə	ignar [i.gnər]	a reduced vowel, like a in “about”

For beginner reading, the main rule is simpler: pronounce the vowel letters you see, including final e.

Some Early Hick words are likely sticking points for English readers:

Word	Read in pieces	Note
mope	mo-pe	final e is pronounced
nater	na-ter	both vowels are clear
ewes	e-wes	not like English “ewes”
vinud	vi-nud	i and u keep separate values
rismater	ris-ma-ter	read all three parts
'athid	'a-thid	starts with a catch, then th

The th Sound

Some technical notes write the “thin” sound as θ. In these lessons, read it as English th.

thral
sacred thing, ritual

If you see -eth in the lexicon, read the last sound like th:

-eth
that, sensed but hidden

Stress and Word Shape

Many Early Hick words are easiest to read with the first part stronger:

Do not worry about perfect pronunciation yet. For beginner reading, the goal is to keep the pieces clear.

Try It

Read each word in pieces, then check the answer.

1. rismater
2. 'al
3. kakel
4. branum
5. mope

Pop quizAnswers

1. ris-ma-ter, “reed boat”
2. 'al, “person”
3. ka-kel, “sky-like, blue”
4. bra-num, “past”
5. mo-pe, “no”

Reference Note

For the technical description, see Proto-Hick Reconstruction: Segmental Inventory and Prosodic System.