member in this category. The only environment this sound may appear in is in the cluster . The cluster itself generally appears in the first verb form, otherwise it is somewhat infrequent.(see historical phonology section). The ejective, fortis, and lenis series of the alphabet are not distinguished in Osage orthography. Listed below is some features and phonological alternations of Osage: occur before back vowels, (usually) before the other vowels. The voiceless unaspirated affricate has two allophones: after ; elsewhere it is . Examples: íðotse 'be open' ihtṍtse 'son-in-law' ðekṍõce 'now' 'rabbit' 'you went' The glottal stop appears in clusters only after p, c, k, and it is not considered a true consonant of Osage. It is best thought of as a phonetic device used occasionally at utterance level, and it is typically to separate vowels that would otherwise contract. has two allophones, and [ɣ]. occurs between vowels, elsewhere it is . Examples: 'cough' 'gourd' 'spirit' 'crow' The phoneme is always voiceless. usually has a single allophone , but in the Hominy dialect it has two allophones: initially before and elsewhere. Examples: ðɑ̃lĩ 'good' ðɑ̃brĩ 'three' ðĩe 'you' cʼéðe 'he killed it' The cluster also depends on dialect. It is sometimes pronounced or . In some instances, due to morphologically complex formations, is an allophone of Examples: 'I'm finished' 'I have' 'I am unable' The dentalveolar obstruents are often fricated: the ejective always (though it has other sources as well), and the other series before the front vowels . Exceptions occur due to compounding and other derivational processes. For example, from hką́ą́ce 'fruit' and oolá 'put in' is hkąącóla 'pie'. (The fricated allophone is written c.) Č, hč are rare, and only found in diminutives: č only in two words, čóopa 'a little', čáahpa 'squat', and hč for hc in endearment forms of kin terms like wihčóšpa 'my grandchild'. In Hominy, šc is pronounced šč. Consonant clusters Osage has a simple expanded CV syllabic template: (C(C)) V (V). All consonants occur initially and medially; they never occur in final position. Consonant clusters of the type CC only occur in initial and medial positions. Furthermore, only voiceless consonants form clusters, with the exception of . The initial clusters are , excluding aspirated stops. Examples: pʃĩta 'I'll come (to your house)' kʃí 'he reached home' ʰtséka 'crazy' stúʒa 'you wash it' stsétse 'long' skɑ̃ 'white' ʃtátɑ̃ 'you drank it' ʃkṍʃta 'you wanted it'