The Apostrophe - Where and Why

Cama'i - (Hello) an apostrophe is used in Alutiiq to separate two vowel sounds to prevent them from becoming a single combination sound (see Doubled Vowels).

Sugt'stun - (Like a person) The ' in this case represents the former voiceless e. This shows that there will be a slight pause creating a syllable break.

Un'gani - (Out there) Where n and g appear next to each other in a word, but are not supposed to be the combination letter ng, they are separated by an apostrophe. While Alutiiq n and g have their own sounds, the combination letter ng sounds like the ng in sing.

Ing'iq - (Mountain) In certain words over time, consonants will drop out of the pronunciation of a word, and be replaced by an apostrophe. Often, the pronunciation will vary between speakers. In this case, some speakers pronounce this word ingriq, maintaining the r sound, while others pronounce it ing'iq. The most common consonants to drop out of words are r and g.

Sometimes with the addition of a suffix, the dropped consonant will reappear in the word; in reference texts, the "missing" letter will be written as a superscript ^r or ^g instead of an apostrophe to show the reader what will be added back in when a suffix joins the word. An example of this is the word pani'aq, or "daughter." In normal writing, you simply would write pani'aq. In a dictionary, this might be written pani^gaq, to show that when you add a suffix or change the ending, the superscript ^g will reappear as a regular g. This lets you know that you need to add the g when you change the ending: "his daughter" is panigaa (not pani'aa). This is complicated for a beginning speaker, but worth mentioning for those wondering about those "floating letters."

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