There are five vowels in Kashaya, pronounced as in Spanish rather than English. Each vowel can be either short or long, meaning that the sound is stretched out, indicated by the raised dot. Listen to the differences by clicking the buttons.
Most of the consonants in Kashaya are called stops, because the flow of air is briefly stopped when saying them. Several special symbols are used: t and ṭ differ in where the tongue is placed, with simple t a bit like English th; c is like English ch; and q is further back in the throat than k. The special symbols ʰ and ’ mean the sound is aspirated (with a puff of air) or ejective (with a noisy release). Click to hear these differences.
Most of the other consonant sounds of Kashaya are familiar from English. Two special symbols are š which is like English sh, and ʔ which is a glottal stop, like the little catch in the middle of the word uh-oh. Notice that s has an ejective version. These are fricatives (hissing sounds like s), glottal sounds ʔ and h, and the remainder are called sonorants.
For recordings of increments that involve all these sounds, see this page.)
(See other language resources prepared by Gene Buckley. These sound files record the voice of Otis Parrish, who patiently pronounced each example.)