Surviving Through The Days [antikvár]

PRONUNCIATION CUIDE Because this is a book of translations, not bilingual texts, pronunciation is not as pressing an issue as it might have been. Nevertheless, stray words and names and places crop up in these pages, and readers who like to meet a challenge head-on, or don't want to have to mumble and squint, may appreciate a brief, generalized guide to pronouncing tribal and lin-guisdc orthographies. I say "generalized" because, in a land of such profound linguistic diversity as Native California, there is no such thing as a shared orthography common to all languages. The rough outlines of the various systems are fairly consistent—most are based on the phonetic alphabet, after all. But because most contemporary orthographies are phonemic (meaning that it takes a degree of "insider knowledge" to interpret the symbols with certainty), the phonological particulars and eccentricities of the individual languages work to limit the consistency of the alphabet used. At any rate, and for what it's worth, here are some pointers for pronouncing the native-language words and names that readers will encounter in this book. Following them won't guarantee that you'll be right, just that you won't be egregiously wrong—a plausible rendition, if not a perfect one. For details on any particular language, consult the "Further Readings" section following each selection, which supplies references to grammars and teaching aids (if there are any for the language in question). Most accepted orthographies for Native American languages are based on the Americanist Phonetic Alphabet (a North American variant of the International Phonetic Alphabet). Therefore the following suggestions will be valid for most of the Indian words you find in this (or any other) book. P RO N U NCI ATI ON 0 U I D E XIX