Traditionally, Wendat was an oral language. Therefore, the alphabet we present to you here is the result of years of discussion concerning the best way to represent the language through written symbols. After a previous preliminary standardization, the Wendat Language Committee, in 2010, decided upon the orthography and pronunciation that we use today. The Committee made these decisions on the basis of several factors, including: the first language of the majority of Wendat people being French, the ways in which missionaries transcribed the language over time, the spelling systems used by other Iroquoian communities, the combatibility and adaptability of this orthography with new and emerging technologies, as well as others.
Given that the transmission of the Wendat language was interrupted for a period of more than 150 years, the re-establishment of the pronunciation of this language required a great deal of linguistic research. In light of analyses of the archival data of Wendat and Wyandot and comparative research about the sound systems of other Iroquoian langauges, the Committee discussed and decided upon the pronunciation for each letter, and combination of letters, in the standardized alphabet.
The information found below provides the sound that corresponds to each letter of the alphabet and all frequent combinations of these letters. For each sound, there is an example in Wendat with audio, as well as similar examples in English and French when relevant.