Example Words

atshiku	seal	ańik	toad
nishk	goose	amishku	beaver
kataku	far	shuku	so much/so many
kaku	porcupine	mak	and
pishimu	month	mitshim	food
nishim	my brother	atimu	dog
nishu	two	minush	cat
mitish	pearl	nishtu	three

Description of the Problem

Some words are written with a consonant followed by an exponent u: C^u. Consonants affected by this spelling include: k, m, sh and t, and are written k^u, m^u, sh^u and t^u.

Consonants written with the exponent (or raised) u are called labialized consonantsTo produce a labialized consonant, the lips are rounded when it is pronounced, which we don’t do with a simple consonant. It does not involve 2 sounds (C+u), but a single sound or phoneme., because they are pronounced differently than those that are unlabialized; let’s compare the following words: mak and / mak^u! cry!, apu uapamak I don’t see him/her / apu uapamak^u you (sg) and I do not see him/her, tshek all of a sudden / tshek^u which.

Spelling Solution

For labialized consonants, the decision was made to indicate labialization with an exponent (or raised) u: C^uDIALECTOLOGY: Other Algonquian languages use the spelling kw instead. In Innu, the decision was made not to use this spelling, but it is regularly used for digital information. for example, if you type w in the Innu Dictionary, it is automatically converted to an exponent u.

Because labialized consonants don’t all behave the same way, they are treated separately in their own pages, the links to which are available below.