For convenience in study phonetic signs have been adopted similar to
those employed in the publications of the Jesup North Pacific
Expedition on the tribes of the northwest coast of America, and for a
more particular explanation of them the reader is referred to those
publications. The vowels are ā, a, ä, ᴀ, ē, e, ê, ī, i, î, ō, o, ū, u,
pronounced in the continental manner. There is, however, no real
distinction between corresponding e and i vowels on the one hand and o
and u vowels on the other. Apparently, two continental sounds answer to
one Haida sound that lies midway between them. Very slight u- or a-
sounds accompanying consonants occur in the Masset dialect and in
Tlingit words, and are indicated by u and a. Â (English aw) and ô (like
o in stop) sometimes occur in songs. The consonants are the following:
-------------------+--------+------+--------+---------+-------
| Sonans | Surd | Fortis | Spirans | Nasal
-------------------+--------+------+--------+---------+-------
Velar | g̣ (ʻ) | q | qꜝ | x | ...
Palatal | g | k | kꜝ | x̣ | ñ
Alveolar | d | t | tꜝ | s | n
Dental | dj | tc | tcꜝ | ... | ...
Labial | b | p | ... | ... | m
Lateral | ʟ̣ | ʟ | ʟꜝ | ł | ...
-------------------+--------+------+--------+---------+-------
and l, h, y, w.
--------------------------------------------------------------
A laryngeal catch (ʻ) takes the place of g̣ in the Masset dialect: x is
also pronounced softer, more like h. The fortes are accompanied by a
slight pause or explosion in utterance, and the laterals are related to
l’s, coming nearest in intonation, however, to the combinations dl and
tl or kl; x is like German ch in ach; x̣ is formed farther forward; ñ is
identical with ng in thing. The remaining sounds are similar to the
English sounds which their signs represent. Prolongation of a sound is
indicated by ⁺. Hyphens are used to separate some compound words, but
more often to mark that two successive vowel sounds do not form a
diphthong. A pause or the omission of a vowel is indicated by an
apostrophe.