| Lesson 5 — Sounds — Combinations of vowels plus y and w — Part 2 | |
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| Combinations of vowel plus y and w often show up at the end of Samala words. Some of these combinations are familiar from English. |
| All six vowels of Samala can have a following y or w. This makes a pattern that fits neatly into a grid. |
| Some of these combinations are familiar from English and others do not occur in English at all. |
| Starts with: | |||||||
| a | e | i |  |
o | u | ||
| –y | ay | ey | iy | y |
oy | uy | |
| –w | aw | ew | iw | w |
ow | uw | |
| Two-sound combinations of vowel plus y and w that Samala and English share | ||
| Combinations that include y or w automatically as part of the English vowel — we perceive these as single units in English | ||
| Combinations that do not occur in English at all |
| Two-sound combinations of vowel plus y and w that Samala and English share |
| You've already seen examples of the combinations that Samala and English share and that we generally perceive as sequences of two sounds. | |||||
| ay |   akay |
"bed" |  |
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quntaw  |
| tamay |
"to forget" | ||||
| aw | quntaw |
"lightning to flash" | akay |
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i aw |
"to be hot (said of weather)" | ta may |
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| oy | tokoy |
"circle, disc, hoop; wheel" |  |
tokoy |  |
| olkoy |
"to go around" | ||||
| uy | tuhuy |
"to rain" | tuhuy |
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| ukuy |
"to discard, throw away" | ||||
Any of these combinations can also be glottalized at the end of a word. |
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| Notice how the end of the word sounds chopped off and how the y and w have a whispered quality after glottal stop. | |||||
| away |
"moon, month" |  |
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| xuxaw |
"coyote" | ||||
| toy |
"hoof" | ||||
| kukuy |
"pillow" | away |
xuxa w |
kukuy |
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