Comparison of Orthographies
| Goddard | Merriam |
| a | ah (occasionally a or e) |
| A | ah, e, u, i (in order of frequency) |
| ai | a, i |
| Ai | i |
| b | b |
| c | s (once sh) |
| d | d, t |
| e | e |
| E | e, ā |
| g | ƚg written as sk |
| G | does not occur |
| h | h |
| i | ē, ĕ (oi written i) |
| I | i, u |
| k | k (ky written ch) |
| k' | k |
| l | does not occur |
| ƚ | kl, often not recorded at all (ƚ written sk) |
| m | n (Goddard says n sometimes becomes m by assimilation. Evidently it is n phonemically) |
| n | n (occasionally ng, once not recorded at all) |
| ñ | ng (occasionally n, twice not recorded at all) |
| o | o (occasionally u) |
| s | s |
| t | t |
| t' | does not occur |
| tc | ch (once tch) |
| tc' | does not occur |
| ts | does not occur |
| ts' | does not occur |
| u | does not occur |
| w | does not occur |
| y | y, ky written ch, kiyah always written ke-ah or ka-ah |
TRIBELETS
The subgroups of the Wailaki (map 5) are called bands by Merriam and subtribes by Goddard but it is clear that they correspond precisely to the definition of tribelet given by Kroeber (1932, pp. 258-259), a fact which Kroeber noted at the time (p. 257). Goddard says (1923a, p. 95):
[They] had definite boundaries on the river as well as delimited hunting grounds on an adjoining ridge. In the summer and fall they appear to have been under the control of one chief, and to have camped together for gathering nuts and seeds and for community hunting. In winter they lived in villages and were further subdivided.
I. There is close agreement on the boundaries of the northernmost Wailaki tribelet on the western side of the Eel. Merriam gives the names kun-nun´-dung ke´-ah-hahng, ki´-kot-ke-ah-hahng, ki-ketch-e kā-ah-hahng, and ki-ke´-che ke´-ah-hahng as designations for the group. He says the territory of this group runs from Chamise Creek in the north to Pine Creek in the south. Goddard gives the same name (rendered kaikitcEkaiya) and the same boundaries for the group.
The territory north of Chamise Creek on the west side of the river is assigned by Merriam to the taht´-so ke´ah tribelet of the Lassik. This attribution would seem to indicate that Merriam has put his northern Wailaki boundary too far north, that it should hit the Eel at Chamise Creek rather than at Kekawaka Creek. Goddard calls these people the daƚsokaiya, "blue ground people," which no doubt corresponds to taht´-so ke´ah. He says, "It is doubtful that they should be counted as Wailaki, but they were not Lassik and probably spoke the same dialect as the Wailaki."
II. This tribelet is called sĕ-tah´-be ke´-ah-hahng or sā-tah´-ke-ahng by Merriam. In one place his notes say that the territory includes land on both sides of the Eel, running south of Indian Creek on the western side. This is clearly not so, for he refers several times to a different tribelet occupying that area. That the tribelet was confined to the east side of the river is further indicated by Goddard, who gives Pine Creek on the north and Natoikot Creek on the south as the boundaries. Goddard's name for the tribelet is sEtakaiya.
III. Goddard says that there was a tribelet on the west side of the Eel whose territory was bounded on the north by Natoikot Creek and extended south to a point opposite the mouth of North Fork. His name for this group is taticcokaiya. Merriam's name for the group in this general area is tah-chis´-tin ke-ah-hahng. He does not give any boundaries for them.