Do you pronounce accented letters differently from their non-accented counterparts? If not, how do you pronounce them?

In Haitian Creole, the accented words letters are pronounced differently than their non-accented counterparts.

Listen to this audio, scroll down to follow along.

The three accented letters in Haitian Creole are: e, o, an.

1. O pronounced like letter "o" in  slow.

    example:

    bo (kiss)

    mo (word)

2. ò pronounced like letter "o" in dot.

    example:

    bò (side)

    mò (the dead)

3. e pronounced like "day"

    example:

    ke (tail)

    te (tea)

4. è pronounced like the letter e in get.

    kè (heart)

    tè (land, earth)

5. an

    pan (peacock)

    tan (time)

6. àn

    pàn (inconvenience, dilemma)

    soutàn (the frock that a priest wears)

The accent is called:  aksan grav  or  aksan fòs.

Spelling accented words in Haitian Creole.

7. mòn (m-ò-n)

8. vètè (v-è-t-è)

9. pàn (p-à-n)

practicing...

10 . dakò (agree)

11.  miyò (better)

12. tablo (blackboard or a painting)

13. panno (wall)

14. souke (to shake)

15. woule (to roll)

16. lanmè (ocean)

17. vètè (earthworm)

18. manman (mother)

19. frekan (arrogant, bold)

20. bekàn (bicycle)

21. avwàn (oatmeal)

Enben se tout.  Mèsi e orevwa.
Well that's all.  Thanks and goodbye.

1 comment:

1. 
   ZackAugust 24, 2012 5:29 PM

   Thank you for your lessons!
   I have a question. Maybe my ear isn't very well tuned to the language but in the examples of bo, mo / bò, mò they sound the same to me. Would you be able to record you saying bo then immediately saying bó and maybe a few time for people like me who have trouble hearing the difference?
   Please

   
   

   Here it is.  Click and listen to the differences between the words with "o" and "ò" below :)

   
   

        
   
   1. Bo, bò         [bo (kiss), bò (side)]
   2. mo, mò        [mo (word), mò (dead)]
   3. fo, fò            [fo (fake), fò (strong)]
   4. po, pò          [po (jug), pò (port)]