bráze 'torn' Medial clusters may be divided into two groups: Cluster whose first C is p, t, c, or k Examples: tapʼõkʼe 'he hit it' wécʼa 'snake' nɑ̃ḱṍ 'he heard it' aṍpha 'I understand it' áthɑ̃ 'he kicked it' áððikhɑ̃ 'he lay down' épʃe 'I spoke' ðacpé 'to eat' nĩ́kʃe 'you are here' nã́kwĩ 'both, we two' Cluster whose first C is s, ʃ, x, or h Examples: ĩ́spe 'ax' laská 'flower' ókisce 'half' ðaʃtú 'to bite' paʃpú 'to chip' iʃtá 'eyes' walúʃks 'bug' mɑ̃ʃcĩ́ke 'rabbit' mɑ̃xpú 'clouds' ðaxtáke 'to bite' mõĩ́xka 'soil/dirt' wĩ́xci 'one' Historical phonology The historically aspirated series *pʰ *tʰ *kʰ is seldom realized with aspiration today. Before back vowels they are , and before front vowels (written pš ch kš). Some speakers from Hominy assimilate tx to or . Đ, n, r all derive from historic *r, and l from *kr and *xr. The latter is a recent phenomenon; in the 1930s words with modern l were transcribed xth and gth. Historically *r became ð before oral vowels and n before nasal vowels, but since the nasalization has often been lost, there are minimal pairs and are now separate phonemes. Nonetheless, intervocalic ð is optionally pronounced in many words. It is also sometimes strongly palatalized intervocalically, to the point of becoming . In words with l, this is sometimes pronounced or . The former derives from historic *xl, the latter from *kð and *gð; these sequences have largely merged with simple *l. This is productive; ð in verbs may become l when prefixed with k. The r is apparently an approximant like English . Br is most common in first-person forms of verbs beginning with ð, where the 1sg agent prefix w(a)- assimilates to before the ð, and indeed this was written bth in the 1930s. However, in rarer cases the origin of br is opaque. References Sources Quintero, Carolyn. The Osage Language. Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press, 2004. . Quintero, Carolyn. Osage Dictionary. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 2009. . Wolff, Hans. "Osage I: Phonemes and Historical Phonology". International Journal of American Linguistics 18.2 (1952): 63–68. External links Audio clips of Osage phrases (may require log-in access) Osage Nation Indigenous languages of Oklahoma Native American language revitalization Endangered indigenous languages of the Americas Extinct languages of North America Western Siouan languages Languages extinct in the 2000s Vulnerable languages