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Lesson 2 – Sounds and Spelling
The Arabana alphabet has 26 letters and is quite different to the English alphabet, so you’ll need to learn the sound that each letter stands for in order to accurately pronounce the Arabana language. For more practice with the sounds of Arabana, have a look through the Arabana learning videos. Here is the Arabana alphabet:
a b d i k l lh ly m n ng nh ny p r r rr rd rl rn t th ty u w y
Vowels
Arabana has three vowels (a, i, u). Here are the Arabana vowels
a
sounds like the ‘a’ in English father, not like the ‘a’ in bat.
i
sounds like the ‘i’ in English bit or sometimes like the longer ‘ee’ sound in beet.
u
sounds like the ‘u’ in English put, not like the ‘u’ in but.
Consonants
k
this sound is similar to English ‘k’ in kite and also like a ‘g’ in gate. The Arabana sound sits between both of these sounds in English.
l
sounds like the ‘l’ in English love.
lh
these two letters sound like an ‘l’ in English alarm, but you need to put the tip of your tongue between your front teeth while you are saying the ‘l’, to slightly change the sound of it.
ly
these two letters sound like the ‘ll’ in English million.
m
same ‘m’ sound as in English mad.
n
same ‘n’ sound as in English another.
ng
this sound is the same as the ‘ng’ in English sing. Unlike in English, this sound is sometimes at the start of words in Arabana. To practice the sound, try saying ‘sing-ngurku’.
nh
these two letters sound like a ‘n’ in English under, but you need to put the tip of your tongue between your front teeth while you are saying the ‘n’, to slightly change the sound of it.
ny
these two letters sound like the ‘ni’ in English onion.
p
his sound is similar to English ‘p’ in pass and also like a ‘b’ in but. The Arabana sound sits between both of these sounds in English.
r
this is the retroflexed ‘r’. Notice the underline on this letter. This sound is the same as the ‘r’ used in English, like in paradise. This sound is represented with a capital ‘R’ in older resources.
r
this is a tapped ‘r’. This sound does not exist in English. This sound is made by tapping the tip of your tongue to the top of your mouth. Try saying ‘ladder’ really quickly. The sound that the ‘dd’ makes is similar to the tapped ‘r’ in Arabana.
rr
this is a rolled ‘r’. This sound does not exist in English. Make the tapped ‘r’ (as above), but draw the sound out a little bit longer so that the tongue is vibrating at the top of your mouth.
rd
these two letters sound like the ‘d’ in English Adam, but with the tongue curling back in the mouth as you say the ‘d’ to give it an ‘r’ quality.
rl
these two letters sound like the ‘ll’ in English pillow, but with the tongue curling back in the mouth as you say the ‘ll’ to give it an ‘r’ quality.
rn
these two letters sound like the ‘n’ in another, but with the tongue curling back in the mouth as you say the ‘n’ to give it an ‘r’ quality.
t
this sound is similar to English ‘t’ in touch and also like a ‘d’ in dog. The Arabana sound sits between both of these sounds in English.
th
these two letters sound like a ‘t’ in English data, but you need to put the tip of your tongue between your front teeth while you are saying the ‘t’, to slightly change the sound of it. This does not sound like the ‘th’ in English think, as no air is being pushed out through your teeth.
ty
these two letters sound like the ‘dg’ in English judge.
w
same ‘w’ sound as in English away.
y
same ‘y’ sound as in English yellow.
Other tips on pronunciation
Most Arabana words carry the stress on the first syllable of the word. The ‘stressed’ part of the word is in bold in these examples:
b and d are used in Arabana to represent a special sound feature called ‘pre-stopping’.
Pre-stopping is only found in a small number of languages in the world. It means that a really short stop or pause occurs just before another sound.
b
this is used before an ‘m’ in Arabana to show pre-stopping. It is not used in any other places, except for the language name itself Arabana.
d
this is used before an ‘n, nh, ny, l, lh’ and ‘ly’ to show pre-stopping. It is not used in any other places in the language.
