Introduction

The Secwépemc alphabet has 42 letters. You will notice that some of the letters have glottal sounds. Glottal sounds have apostrophes over the letters. The glottalized letter suggests placing more emphasis on this letter or sound.

Some of the words have stress marks over particular vowels, this stress mark signifies an emphasis on this part of the word. As you become familiar with the Secwépemc alphabet you will notice that some letters are the same type of sound but with different inflexions or stops.

Secwépemc Alphabet

• a glottal mark ( ‘ ) is an emphasis of the sound or a glottal pause.
• when you see a ‘w’ after a letter it is pronounced with your lips rounded like when you make the “oh” sound. 

Learning Activities

Activity 1

Listen to the audio recording of each letter and try to echo the sounds yourself. You should repeat this exercise several times.

Click on the images below to hear the correct pronunciation of each letter in the Secwépemc alphabet.