Orthography - Alphabet | Loren

University of Nebraska – Lincoln uses an orthography similar to the orthographic style of Alice C. Fletcher and Francis La Flesche in "The Omaha Tribe" to transcribe the Umóⁿhoⁿ language.

Symbol	Letter Name	2003	2018	Umóⁿhoⁿ examples	American English examples	Notes
◌◌		unmarked		ččèshka		Held long or tense unaspirated consonant
◌ʰ◌				óⁿpʰoⁿ		Aspirated consonant (Unicode 02B0) - All capitals version ◌ᴴ (Unicode 1D34)
◌̣		unmarked		x̣agé		Muted consonant (Underdot, Unicode 0323)
◌̌				táx̌ti		Harsh consonant (Hacek, Unicode 030C)
◌ⁿ◌				óⁿba		Nasalized vowel (Unicode 207F) - All capitals version ◌ᴺ (Unicode 1D3A). IPA suggests that a superscript "n" be used but we have had troubles with superscript format being lost when changing versions of editors so we have chosen to use a Unicode marker for nasalization.
◌̀		unmarked		wèduba		Accented syllable, pitch falling (Grave, Unicode 0300)
◌́		stressed syllable default		wiwítta		Accented syllable, pitch rising (Acute, Unicode 0301)
◌̂		unmarked		shêtʰe		Accented vowel in which the pitch rises and falls (Circumflex, Unicode 0302)
◌̄		unmarked		āthada		Accented syllable with a moderately long vowel (Macron, Unicode 0304)
◌ˀ◌				tˀé		Glottal stop (Unicode 02C0). (capitalizing ʡùde or ˀÙde, consensus seems to be ˀÙde; ʡ Unicode 02A1) Has been marked as ?◌ or ◌^?
ε				hóⁿεⁿgoⁿče		only used nasalized (Unicode 025B)
	ˀáˀa	?	ˀ◌	ˀùde	uh–oh	Glottal stop
	a	a	a	ská	father, Lisa	vowel
	oⁿ	oⁿ	oⁿ	óⁿba, zhōⁿ, zhòⁿ	yawn, concise, phone	low back vowel, nasalized a; single sound without a distinct a or n (aⁿ in Ponka, Dorsey uses aⁿ)
	be	b	b	bi amá	boy
	če	ch	č	ččèga x̌či	church	un–aspirated ch
	če-dídiⁿ	unmarked	čč	ččèshka	gotcha
	če-ha	chʰ	čʰ	iⁿčʰòⁿga	church	sometimes left unmarked
	de	d	d	dúba, dūba	dog
	e	e	e	shé, tʰe, wèduba	weight, Las Vegas,	vowel
	εⁿ		εⁿ	hóⁿεⁿgoⁿče	pet	vowel like ε, the sound in “pet”, but nasalized
	ge	g	g	égoⁿ	girl
	ha	h	h	huhú	high
	i	i	i	sí	feet, radiant	vowel
	iⁿ	iⁿ	iⁿ	wíⁿ	mean, machine	vowel, nasalized i; without a fully pronounced n
	jútta	j	j	júba	judge
	ka	k	k	ké	skate	un–aspirated k
	ka-dídiⁿ	unmarked	kk	kké
	ka-ha	kʰ	kʰ	akʰí	kettle	aspirated k
	mi	m	m	mí	man
	ni	n	n	nú	no
	o	o	o	ho	hold, go	vowel (only found in modern Omaha)
	pe	p	p	pá	spit	un–aspirated p
	pe-dídiⁿ	unmarked	pp	ppá
	pe-ha	pʰ	pʰ	óⁿpʰoⁿ	pit	aspirated p
	pe-ˀáˀa		pˀ		uh–oh	glottal stop released right after p
	sa	s	s	sábe	sun
	sa-shtóⁿga	unmarked	ṣ			like s but muted
	sa-ˀáˀa		sˀ		uh–oh	glottal stop released right after s
	she	sh	sh	shé	ship	(Larson uses š)
	she-shtóⁿga	unmarked	ṣh			like sh but muted
	she-ˀáˀa		shˀ		uh–oh	glottal stop released right after sh
	te	t	t	té	stop	un–aspirated t
	te-dídiⁿ	unmarked	tt	ttāshka
	te-ha	tʰ	tʰ	atʰí	top	aspirated t
	te-ˀáˀa	tˀ	tˀ	tˀé	uh–oh	glottal stop released right after t
	tha	th	th	tháwa		not in English; ledh, a sound transitioning from l to th (Larson uses r) (IPA approximation l͡ð)
	u	u	u	ttú	blue, loot	vowel
	uⁿ	uⁿ		iⁿgthúⁿga	spoon	vowel, nasalized u; single sound without a distinct u or n
	wau	w	w	waˀú	wing
	x̣a	gh	x̣	x̣agé	sagen in German	soft or voiced x, (Dorsey uses x)
	x̌u	x̌	x̌	táx̌ti	Bach in German	harsh x; (Dorsey uses q)
		y		ya	yes
	ze	z	z	zí	zoo
	zhu	zh	zh	zhíⁿga	beige, vision	(Larson uses ž, Dorsey uses j)

The diacritic marks used here are IPA symbols in Unicode fonts. You can download the font Charis SIL from http://www.sil.org. 2003: University of Nebraska–Lincoln Omaha Language class, fall 2002 through spring 2004. 2018: is from The Omaha Language and the Omaha Way. Also see James Owen Dorsey's Degiha Language.