Lesson 1: Introduction to Sounds & Spelling

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Lesson 1: Introduction to Sounds & Spelling

Making an Alphabet to Write the Sounds of palawa kani

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palawa kani alphabet

To create the we first needed to identify the original sounds of our languages. This meant studying records from 1777 to 1942, made by Europeans who heard our ancestors speak, as well as oral sources like songs, recordings, and community memory. Because Aboriginal sounds were unfamiliar to these recorders, they often wrote them inconsistently. Still, their varied spellings help us today by revealing patterns and sound differences. Most of the recorders weren’t trained and had limited literacy, so interpreting their notes requires linguistic skills. palawa kani language workers use this training to analyse spellings, compare versions, and draw on knowledge of Aboriginal languages to reconstruct the original sounds. To pass the language on, they developed a consistent spelling system for palawa kani, shaped by 1993 community input mandating for clear, easy-to-learn, sound-based spelling.

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(tj)

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The community decided on three basic principles:

2. Use a Familiar Spelling System Because Aboriginal languages were traditionally spoken, not written, there are no original Aboriginal letters. Like many mainland languages, palawa kani uses letters from the English alphabet to represent its sounds. Some palawa kani sounds don’t exist in English, but we can still write them using combinations of familiar letters—like two letters together to show one sound. This is a common approach when oral languages are written down for the first time: rather than inventing a whole new alphabet, communities adapt an existing one. Since we all know the English alphabet, it makes sense to use it. This helps both children and adults learn the language. Creating an entirely new writing system would mean having to learn new letters as well as a new language—making things much harder than they need to be.

1. Be Consistent English spelling is often confusing. The same letter can make different sounds, like the 'C' in: cat (makes a ‘k’ sound) cinder(makes a ‘s’ sound) The same sound can also be written in different ways, like the /f/ sound in fish, phone, or rough. This inconsistency makes English hard to spell and tricky for second-language learners. In palawa kani, we avoid this confusion by being consistent: each sound is always written with the same letter, no matter the word. For example, the /k/ sound is always written as ‘k’—never ‘c’ or ‘ck’. This way, everyone learns just one clear, reliable way to write each word.

3. Use Only the Necessary Number of Letters The palawa kani alphabet doesn’t have a separate letter for every sound ever recorded in Tasmanian languages. Instead, it includes only the letters needed to show important differences between sounds. Many of the original sounds were interchangeable—swapping one for another didn’t change the meaning of a word. So, we only need one letter to represent each group of similar sounds. This keeps the spelling system simple and practical—just like the approach used by many mainland Aboriginal language communities.

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(th)

(tj)

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Sounds Are Not Letters

When talking about sounds and spelling, it’s important to understand the difference between the sounds you speak and the letters you use to write them. A sound is something you hear—or a noise you make when you speak—while a letter is something you see, a visual symbol used in writing to represent that sound. Traditionally, the speakers of the original Tasmanian languages communicated using spoken language (i.e. sounds) without needing to write it (i.e. letters). Now that we want to write down those Tasmanian sounds, we need letters to represent them. This is why the alphabet was created — to give you a way to show sounds on paper. But not all writing systems do this clearly. Letters are meant to represent sounds, but in English this is often done poorly.

Click the speaker icon to hear the audio, then repeat the word aloud.

through

drought

cough

dough

bought

hiccough

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Before you start learning the palawa kani alphabet, let’s first explore how letters can represent different sounds in other languages

kinta

tinta

nuit

muru

1. Say the word aloud as you think it is pronounced.
2. Click and drag the card to the right to move to the next card.

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Subtitle

These letters might look familiar, but listen carefully to how they’re actually pronounced in their own languages

kinta

A Gureng Gureng word meaning 'nose' Pronounced "mooroo"

A Brazilian Portuguese word meaning 'ink' Pronounced "cheen-tuh"

1. Turn the card using the flip icon to learn how the word is pronounced.
2. Click and drag the card to the right to move to the next card.

tinta

nuit

muru

A French word meaning 'night' Pronounced "nwee"

A Swedish word meaning 'China' Pronounced "shee-nah"

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Understanding How Sounds Are Made

When you speak, you push air out from your lungs and shape it into sounds using different parts of your mouth, nose, and throat. This is called your vocal tract. It includes everything from your vocal cords in your throat, all the way up to your mouth. Each part plays a different role — some help block the air, some shape it, and others let it out through your nose or mouth. Consonants are sounds made when the airflow is partly or completely blocked using parts of your vocal tract Vowels are sounds are made by letting the airstream flow freely through the vocal tract without any obstruction.

7. Hard Palateis the soft part at the back of your mouth. If lifts or lowers to control airflow through your mouth or nose

6. Hard Palateis the hard part at the roof of your mouth. Your tongue palate touches this when you make the 'tj' sound

8. Nasal Tunnelis the passage behind your nose. Air moves through it for nasal sounds like 'm' 'n' & 'ng'

3. Tongue Tipis the front of you tongue. It touches ridge behind your teeth to make sounds like 't' & 'n'

4. Alveolar Ridgeis the bumby ridge behind your top teeth. You use it with your tongue tip to make sounds like 't' & 'n'

9. Vocal Cordsare in your throat. They vibrate for sounds like 'g' 'b' 'd' and stay open for sounds like 'k' 'p' 't'

5. Tongue Palateis the flat part behind the tip of your tongue. You use it make sounds like 'tj'

1. Lipshelp make sounds like 'p' & 'm' closing together to stop the airflow.

2. Teeth work with your tongue to make sounds like 'th'

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Subtitle

FINISH

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Click the blue 'continue' button at the bottom left of screen to move onto the next lesson.

nayri!

Good!

You have completed Lesson 1!

Now, continue onto Lesson 2: Vowel Sounds by selecting the BLUE 'continue' button on the bottom right hand side of your screen.

This exercise shows that the same letters, or combinations of letters, can have many different sounds. This is because English spelling doesn't consistently match sounds to letters. It follows old rules based on history and word origin (etymology). Over time, the way we say words has changed, but the spelling has mostly stayed the same. Unlike English, the palawa kani spelling system uses a consistent one-to-one match between sounds and letters, making it much easier to read, write, and pronounce.