Cozy up to ʔayʔaǰuθəm: it’s here to stay

Dr. Elsie Paul’s book, Written as I Remember It, offers a precise pronunciation guide of the ʔayʔaǰuθəm language.

BY PIETA WOOLLEY

I’ve been meeting with Randolph Timothy Jr this month outside his parent’s place, at Scuttle Bay. The oyster catchers bumble around on the flats, as we hem and haw over a tough question: how to encourage local folks to learn the letters of the ʔayʔaǰuθəm orthography, or alphabet.

Randolph is Tla’amin Nation’s new Language Coordinator. He explained that his team – including members of the Comox, Klahoose and Homalco Nations – have agreed that the language will be revived best by using the correct orthography only. No cheating with phonetics in brackets. The language is the language.

Many of the individual sounds in ʔayʔaǰuθəm just don’t exist in English – thus, the need for other letters. Furthermore, the way the language sounds when it’s spoken is different than English; it is really worth checking out firstvoices.ca, to hear these words spoken by elders. And, to read Dr. Elsie Paul’s Written As I Remember It, for linguist Dr. Honoré Watanabe’s fuller description of how to pronounce each letter (see the link, bit.ly/3cc8iU4).

As you’ve likely noticed, written ʔayʔaǰuθəm is showing up more and more around town: on signage, in the pages of this magazine, and on social media. As someone who does not have a facility with languages, I’m embarrassed to say that I was skipping over reading anything with the unfamiliar-to-me orthography. I mean, despite years of French immersion, pronouncing the accent circumflex still eludes me. Like many native English speakers where English is our region’s lingua franca, I have been language lazy.

So Randolph and I came up with what we hope is a solution to helping everyone (including me) lean in to ʔayʔaǰuθəm a little more: a game. Think of it like a secret code. Each month, we will run the full orthography and five common ʔayʔaǰuθəm words. Write in how to pronounce the word, using the guide below. And voilà! Language learning happens. You got this. Even if you just absorb a couple of letters each month, you’ll be able to pronounce more and more of the language you see around town.

Randolph, it should be noted, is absolutely lovely. He grew up between t ̓išosəm and Surrey, where he went to high school, and has lived and worked all over Western Canada, from Fort MacMurray to Vancouver. He is dedicated to reviving ʔayʔaǰuθəm as he learns the language himself; watch for his initiatives Word of the Day, and Language on the Land, on Facebook.

ʔAYʔAǰUΘƏM? YOU GOT THIS

RANDOLPH TIMOTHY JR.

Use the orthography below to write on a spare piece of paper how to pronounce each letter. Also see Dr. Elsie Paul’s more precise descriptions at bit.ly/3cc8iU4.

ʔayʔaǰuθəm

meaning: The name of this language.

t̓išosəm

meaning: Village the people live in.

ɬaʔəmɛn

meaning: The name of the Nation.

č̓ɛč̓ɛhaθɛšt

We thank you all.

ʔimot

Thank you.

ʔayʔaǰuθəm orthography

ɬəʔamɛn | k̓ómoks | χʷɛmaɬkʷu | & ƛohos

This orthography is based on the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). This partial guide offers a simplified version of the sounds; for an authentic accent, listen at firstvoices.com.

Most letters you’ll see in ʔayʔaǰuθəm are familiar. Pronounce them as you normally would, with the exception of the vowels and “y,” which are always pronounced:

Vowels

a = ah

e = ay as in May

i = ee

o = oh

u = oo

y = y as in yell

Others letters present in list of words above:

ɛ = eh

ə = uh

č̓ = popping c

ǰ = dg

š = sh

t̓ = popping t

θ = th

ʔ = glottal stop: uh oh