Letter TS
Letter ts is pronounced as in English rats and cats. This is a voiceless sound (made without the vocal cords vibrating) and is a distinct sound from Tanacross s.Click on a video below to see and hear Mrs. Irene Arnold pronouncing words with TS.
etsax he or she is crying
łéets flour
tsá' beaver
ekmeets I am boiling it
ntsûudl the small one
tsets firewood
The ts sound is similar to other sounds in Tanacross. Below are examples that contrast these similar sounds.
Click below to hear Mrs. Irene Solomon Arnold illustrating the difference between ts and s.
Click below to hear Mrs. Irene Arnold pronouncing words illustrating the contrast between ts and ts’.
Sentences with contrasting sibilant (S-like) sounds.
Stsêey ts'eyh súu éhtsįį. My grandfather made a nice canoe.
Súus éł jîiz éł ts'ôgh tah ts'į́ xétsax.
The robin and the jay in the tree are crying.
Êy ts'éhxeh seey tsêdl dat-sęy sínt'eh. That is that woman's black pocket knife.
Tanacross ts and dz are voiceless aspirated and unaspirated alveolar affricates [tsh] and [ts], respectively. At the end of syllables ts and dz are pronounced as voiceless and voiced affricates [ts] and [dz], respectively. When dz occurs phrase-finally, it tends to be devoiced to ts, for example: łuug ch'e ehmeedz [łuug ch'e ehmeets] 'it's fish that he's frying'.
similar sounds