- A -
a pisa, mirror. Long as in English fa ther. - Ʋ -
ʋ llo̱si, baby. Short as in English sofa . - B -
b ʋshpo, knife. As in Englishb all. - Ch -
ch ukfi, rabbit. As in Englishch urch. - E - ach
e fa, to wash. Long as in English fee . - F -
f ichik, a star. As in Englishf ire. - H -
h aknip,body. As in Englishh ot. - Hl -
hl a̱fa, a mark. A little like English health. Hl is spelled lh before a consonant. - I -
i ti, tree. Short as in Englishi tch. - k -
k oni, skunk. As in Englishk itchen. - L -
l uksi, turtle. As in Englishl emon. - M -
m i̱ko, chief, king. As in Englishm atch. - N -
n ʋni, fish. As in Englishn ew. - O - oh
o yo, woman. Long as in English bo y. - P -
p inti, mouse. As in Englishp ot. - S -
s inti, snake. As in Englishs un. - Sh -
sh ukha, hog. As in Englishs hoe. - T -
t anchi, corn. As in Englisht oy. - U -
u shi, child. Short as in English po re. - W -
w ak, cow. As in Englishw ork. - Y -
y ʋnʋsh, buffalo. As in Englishy ellow.
Choctaw also has nasal vowels (pronounced through the nose). These are usually spelled <em>a̱, i̱, and o̱ (or u̱)</em>. Before <em>ch, l, </em> and <em>t</em> the same sounds are spelled <em>an, in,</em> and on (or <em>un</em>). Before <em>b</em> and <em>p</em>, they are spelled <em> am, im, </em>and <em>om </em>(or <em> um</em>). There is a great deal of variation in spelling between these three pairs of vowels: <ul class="sentenceVowels"> <li class="listVowels"><bold class="sentenceBold">ʋ~a</bold></li> <li class="listVowels"><bold class="sentenceBold">i~e</bold></li> <li class="listVowels"><bold class="sentenceBold">u~o</bold></li> </ul> In general, the letters <em>ʋ, i, </em> and <em>u</em> are used for shorter vowel sounds where the mouth is almost closed; <em>a, e, </em>and <em> o</em> are used for longer vowel sounds where the mouth is more open. Consonants may be doubled. The <em>n</em> in the word <em>hannali</em> ‘six’ is held longer than the <em>n</em> in the word <em>hanali</em> ‘leg’. When a sound is spelled with two letters (<em>sh, hl, ch</em>), do not double the letters. </br> </br> The following alphabetical order was used to sort words: <em>a A a̱ A̱; ʋ Ʋ; b B; c C; e E e̱ E̱; f F; h H; i I i̱ I̱; k K; l L; m M; n N; o O o̱ O̱; p P; s S; t T; u U u̱ U̱; w W; y Y. Ch, hl, lh,</em>and <em>sh</em> are sorted as two separate letters.