Lesson 1 – Sounds and Spelling

Karangura has 26 letters in the alphabet which represent different sounds to the letters in English, therefore you’ll need to learn the sounds represented by each letter in order to accurately pronounce Karangura words . The Karangura alphabet is:

a b d i k l lh ly m n ng nh ny p r rr r rd rl rn t th ty u w y

Vowels

 

Karangura has three vowels (a,i,u).

a

sounds like the ‘a’ in father and not like the ‘a’ in maths

Try saying:

i

as in the ‘i’ sound in pit or sometimes the ‘ee’ sound in meet. Never like the ‘i’ in bite

u

as in put, never like the ‘u’ in but

Consonants

b

this is only used before an ‘m’ in Karangura to show pre-stopping and not in any other places.

d

as in dog. This sound is mostly used before an l, lh, ly, n and r in Karangura to show pre-stopping and rarely in any other places

k

as in skate. This sound is somewhere between the ‘k’ and ‘g’ sounds in kite and gate

l

as in the English word like

lh

these two letters sound like the ‘l’ in alert, but you need to touch your teeth with your tongue as you say it.

ly

these two letters represent one sound. As in the ‘ll’ sound in million. Never like ‘ly’ in the English word silly.

m    

as in mud

n

as in nice.

ng

these two letters represent the same sound as in the ‘ng’ sound sing.  Unlike in English, there are words in Karangura which start with this sound. Try saying ‘sing–ngurdu’ to practice.

nh

as in nose, but the tongue is brought forward so that it is pushing against your front teeth.

ny

these two letters represent one sound. As in ‘ni’ in the English word onion.

p

as in spark. This sound is somewhere between the English sounds ‘p’ and ‘b’. 

THE THREE TYPES OF R

r

as in the r in parachute or paradise. The tongue curls back in the mouth. Notice the underline on this letter. 

rr

the double r represents the rolled r in Karangura. This sound does not exist in English. Try saying ladder quickly to get close to this sound. 

r

the single r in Karangura doesn’t sound like the ‘r’ found in English. It is a tapped ‘r’ which sounds like the ‘t’ in water if said really quickly.

rd

these two letters represent one sound, it is similar to the ‘rd’ sound in hard but with more emphasis on the r as in a North American accent.

rl

these two letters represent one sound, it is similar to the ‘rl’ sound in girl but with more emphasis on the ‘r’ sound, with the tongue curling back in the mouth.

rn

these two letters sound like the ‘rn’ sound in barn but with an emphasis on the ‘r’. The tongue curls back in the mouth.

t

this sound is similar to both the ‘t’ in touch and ‘d’  in dog.

th

these two letters sound like the ‘t’ sound in top but the tip of your tongue has to be between your teeth as you say it. This sound does not exist in English and is not like the ‘th’ in this or ‘th’ in think.

ty

these two letters represent one sound similar to the ‘j’ sound in jar or the ‘dg’ sound in bridge. This sound is not like the ‘ty’ in English words like city or naughty.  

w

as in the ‘w’ in what

y

as in the ‘y’ in yes or yarn