mw does not occur in English, but there should be no difficulty in producing this sound.

4.2 Pronunciation 35 4.2.3.2 Pronunciation of labialized consonants for Spanish speakers In order to find an equivalent to the Kuna labialized consonants, the u in the following Spanish examples must be treated virtually as an onglide, rather than as a full vowel. The onglide sound may be achieved by pronouncing the Spanish examples fairly quickly:

1. kw is pronounced almost like cu in cuarto

‗room‘.

2. gw is pronounced almost like gu in agua

‗water‘.

3. tw is pronounced almost like tu in santuario

‗sanctuary‘.

4. dw is pronounced almost like du in Eduardo

‗Edward‘.

5. chw is pronounced almost like chu in tachuela

‗tack‘.

6. zhw does not occur in Spanish. 7. mw is pronounced almost like mu in muebles

‗furniture‘. Note : The difference between gwa and wa is often difficult for a Spanish speaker to control. For that reason, gwa and wa are drilled in the following exercises. Exercise 4 . gwa versus wa distinction drill The teacher says the list of words inserting either A: ibiwa or B: ibigwa in position 5. The student must say whether choice A or choice B was inserted. The drill should be repeated several times. 1. piawa ‗Where has it gone to?‘ A: ibiwa ‗for what reason?‘ 2. turwa ‗rubbish‘ B: ibigwa ‗how many days?‘ 3. purwa ‗wind‘ 4. tewa ‗perhaps‘ 5. A or B 6. owanma ‗to shivershake‘ Exercise 5 . gwa versus wa distinction drill The teacher says the list of words inserting either A: ibiwa or B: ibigwa in position 5. The student must say whether choice A or choice B was inserted. The drill should be repeated several times. 1. akwa ‗rockstone‘ A: ibiwa ‗for what reason?‘ 2. pukwa ‗to be sitting plural - see 13.4.3.2‘ B: ibigwa ‗how many days?‘ 3. purkwal ‗paralyzed‘ 4. kollogwad ‗yellow‘ 5. A or B 6. chibugwad ‗the white ones‘ Exercise 6 . gwa versus wa distinction drill The teacher dictates a random listing of the words in Exercises 4 and 5 and the student writes whether the word contains a gwa or a wa. Exercise 7 . wa pronunciation drill Practice reading aloud the following words, having the teacher check your performance. 1. wala ‗trunk‘ 2. waga ‗outsider‘ 3. wawadun ‗bananas‘ 4. wanagak ‗door‘ 5. walpa ‗three‘ 6. piawa ‗Where has it gone to?‘ 7. turwa ‗rubbishsweepings‘ 8. purwa ‗windclouds‘ 36 Questions 9. tewa ‗perhaps‘ 10. owanma ‗to shivershake‘ 4.2.4 Pronunciation of transitional w In many dialects of Kuna, there tends to be a transitional w sound when the vowels u or o are followed by the vowels a or e ua ‗fish‘ is pronounced uwa. ue ‗hot‘ is pronounced uwe. toa ‗Who?Whom?‘ is pronounced towa. koe ‗deer‘ is pronounced kowe. 4.2.5 Fluctuation and phonological changes of fricatives, affricates and the semi-vowel j The fricatives and affricates in Kuna are ch, zh, s, ss and the semi-vowel j. There is fluctuation between them according to the preference of the speaker, their position in the word or syllable, or the other consonant in the cluster. Following are some of the general rules governing the fluctuation of these consonants. 4.2.5.1 chs word initial There is fluctuation between the use of ch and s at the beginning of a word. Some general rules will help clarify their use. Rule 1 : Where there is fluctuation between chs word initially, the generally preferred pronunciation for a word or sense of a word has been chosen as the criteria for determining the correct spelling of the word. Rule 2 : Almost all words are written with ch word initially on the basis of Rule 1. Example chuli ‗no‘ Rule 3 : If the first vowel in a word is an a, the preceding fricative is often written s. Example s atechage ‗nothing‘ Rule 4: In some cases where a word beginning with chs has two distinct meanings, the distinction is made more clear by retaining an initial ch for one meaning and s for the other. Examples saglachagla ‗chiefhair‘ sagla ‗chief‘ is the preferred spelling although chagla ‗chief‘ is also correct. chagla ‗hair‘ is the preferred spelling although sagla ‗hair‘ is also correct. Rule 5 : Some words are always pronounced and written with an s word initially. Example sae ‗yesterday‘ Rule 6 : Some words are always written with an s word initially, according to their preferred pronunciation. Example sabured ‗skirt‘

4.2.5.2 chzh syllable final ch

and zh become ss and s, respectively, at the end of a syllable and are both written s in this position. nuzhu becomes nus ‗worm‘ in its short form. ochi ‗sweet‘ becomes ostigid ‗a sweetened thingsugar‘. Note : In the case of ostigid ‗a sweetened thingsugar‘, one knows that the s is actually a fortis ss because the following consonant t is fortis and therefore, the s is also fortis. 4.2.5.3 Addition of suffixes which begin with a fricativeaffricatesemi-vowel j Suffixes beginning with chzhj are added to words according to the following rules.