When two or more basic vowels are written together , each vowel is pronounced separately . When a basic vowel and a nasal vowel are written together , each vowel is pronounced separately . Lakhota words have the same number of syllables as they have vowels. However, despite the pronunciation, one does not write the nasal vowel. However, the word is still spelled with the Lakhota nasal vowel.
Nasal vowels are absent in English.
In fact, gh before i is pronounced almost as the French r , but with more aspiration. These are the consonants p , t , c , and k plus aspiration . Aspiration is always soft after c . There are many words in Lakhota whose meaning depends on the aspiration and accent. You may hear the difference between c and ch in this example , and between p and ph here and here .