Quick explanation of the sound “ay”
In Peoria, the spelling ay usually represents a vowel sound similar to the English “i” in “ride,” but with a lighter “y” glide at the end. It is made by moving from the Peoria single a sound (as in “father,” or like the “o” in “cot, pot”) toward the high front position of “y.”
A good example of ay is the Peewaalia word aya ‘hi, hello (general greeting)’.
You can sound this out like “a ya” or “I ya.” First, open your mouth for a Peoria single a sound (as in “father,” or the “o” in “cot, pot”). Hold that sound just for a moment, keeping your tongue low in your mouth. Then, without stopping the breath, slide your tongue forward and higher to make a light y sound, like the beginning of “yes.” This slow slide from a to y is the glide.
If you say it slowly, it will sound like “a…ya (aya),” with two very clear parts. If you say it faster and more naturally, the two parts blend together and can start to sound closer to the English i in “ride,” making something like “I…ya (Iya).” But you should still feel yourself moving from the Peoria single a position to the y position, not jumping straight into an English “eye” vowel.
For practice, you can use lines like:
- Say “a ya” slowly five times, feeling the slide from the Peoria single a to y.
- Say “aya, aya, aya” as one word, keeping the Peoria single a slightly strong at the beginning.
- Contrast “aya” (Peoria single a) with “aaya” (lengthen sound to aa): “a ya, aa ya, a ya, aa ya,” so learners can hear how length changes the first part of the sound. This length difference is called vowel length.
The spelling aay is similar to ay, but the Peoria double vowel aa at the beginning is held a little longer. You will hear a lengthened “a” sound that is drawn out before the glide toward “y,” because the vowel (sound) is lengthened, so it sounds more like “aa y.” Think of this Peoria double vowel aa sound as saying the a sound as in “ball, fall” and saying it longer in duration. Just like saying baall or faall.
Example for aay:
šaaye ‘already, come to pass, goodbye, farewell’
Quick explanation of the sound of “ke”
In Peoria, when a word ends in ke (as in ‑ke, ‑hke, ‑nke), the final e often brings in a light y sound, so speakers smoothly say something like kye instead of a plain ke sound. It is made by moving from the k sound into the Peoria single e sound (like the e sound in “wet, net,” a front vowel e), and on the way the tongue passes near the y position, so a gentle y glide appears. You can also think of the kye sound as k plus yet—like saying kyet but without the t at the end.
A good example of this is alaake ‘yesterday’, which is pronounced alaakye‘
For nke specifically, the nk is pronounced like an ng sound (think of n plus a hard g together), so the whole ending is spoken as ‑ngye. The glide is the same as with kye: your tongue moves smoothly from the ng position into the Peoria single e sound (front vowel e), and a soft y sound naturally appears, giving ngye.
A helpful example is waapanke ‘tomorrow’, which is pronounced waapangye.
For the hke sound, you just need to add the puff or breath of air before the ke (kye) sound you learned to do in the first step above. Say -hke by starting with a puff or breath of air sliding into the k sound and then moving into the Peoria single e sound, so a gentle y glide appears between the hk sound and the Peoria single e sound. This makes for a smooth sound hkye.
A great example to use for this is kiihsakonakahke ‘in a few days’, which is pronounced kiihsakonakahkye.
You can think of it as the sounds sliding together: start with k, hk or nk (ng), then move quickly and smoothly into e, and a gentle y just “creeps in” by itself, making a kye, ngye or hkye sound. In more technical terms, the consonant k (and nk/ng in ‑nke) is palatalized, which means it is pronounced more like ky / hky / nky (ngy) before the front vowel e (Peoria single e).
Practice ideas
- Say ke, kye, ke, kye slowly, feeling how the y glides in as you move into e.
- Say alaake, alaakye, alaake, alaakye, and try to keep the glide kye smooth and natural.
- For ‑nke, say nke, ngye, nke, ngye, listening for the ng (n plus hard g) plus y sound.
- For ‑hke, say hke, hkye, hke, hkye, listening for the hk (puff/breath of air then the k sound) plus y sound.
- Practice with full words: alaake (alaakye), waapanke (waapangye), kiihsakonakahke (kiihsakonakahkye), repeating them and focusing on how the endings kye / nkye (ngye) / hkye feel in your mouth.
