Bridging, page 14

[FeralMina]

I agree with what you wrote about the “w” sound being used to bridge sounds in American English, but not Cherokee. That’s very insightful, and important.

I disagree with the implication that Cherokee exclusively uses the “h” to bridge. I hear speakers using both “h” and “y” sounds to bridge. I think I hear unofficial “y”s most commonly between two “i”s, or between an “a” and an “i”, I think, but it varies. You can hear it on this audio track of a speaker saying a “y” bridge between the two “i”s in “alsdayhdii” here:
https://www.cherokeedictionary.net/share/96833
The “y” bridge between vowels sometimes even occasionally gets written into a word. For example, I’ve seen speakers write ᎠᏟᎢᎵ/ahli’ili as sometimes ᎠᏟᏱᎵ/ahliyili instead, or ᎯᎳ ᎢᎦ/hila iga as sometimes ᎯᎳ ᏱᎦ/hila yiga instead, or ᎯᏍᎩ ᎢᎦ/hisgi iga as sometimes ᎯᏍᎩ ᏱᎦ/hisgi yiga instead. And then there’s how “y” is used in an official capacity to be inserted after “da-“ (future) when the rest of the word begins with specific vowels, like in the cases of ᏓᏰᏏ/dayesi or ᏓᏳᏩᏏ/dayuhwasi. That’s an formal “y” bridge, it seems.

To me, it feels like both “h” and “y” can be used to bridge in different instances. Thoughts?