Phonemic inventory
Consonants
| | Bilabial | | Laminal alveolar | | Velar |
Nasal | | | | m | | | | | n̻ | | | | | ŋ | |
Stop | | p | pʼ | b | ɓ̰ | | t̻ | t̻ʼ | d̻ | ɗ̻̰ | | k | kʼ | g | ɠ̰ |
Fricative | | | | | | | s̻ | | | | | xʷ | | | |
Approximant | | | | | | | | | l̻ | | | | | w | |
Vowels
| | Front | | Back |
High | | i | | u |
Mid-low | | ɛ | | ɔ |
Syllable structure
(C)V
C: a consonant
V: a vowel
Allophony
- [w] become [o̯] after a mid-low vowel.
- Velar obstruents or nasals [ŋ kʼ ɠ̰ ...] become non-velar or uvular bilabial [mˠ pˠʼ ɓˠ̰ ...] before an alveolar obstruent or nasal. [xʷ] become [w̥].
- Obstruents [p t̻ ɓ̰ ...] persistently assimilate in voice to a preceding obstruent. After a voiced stop, non-implosive ejective stops become implosives. After a voiceless consonant other than [w̥], implosives become non-implosive.
- Voiced vowels [i u ɛ ɔ] become creaky-voiced [ḭ ṵ ɛ̰ ɔ̰] before a creaky-voiced implosive.
- Bilabial stops or nasals [m pʼ pˠʼ ...] assimilate in dorsality and uvularity and palatalisation and whether palatal or palatalised velar to a following obstruent or nasal.
- Voiceless stops [k͡p pʼ t̻ ...] persistently assimilate in glottalisation to a preceding obstruent.
- Nasals [ŋ͡m m n̻ ...] persistently become nasals and assimilate in place of articulation to a following obstruent.
- Consonants [ŋ͡m b ɓ̰ ...] persistently assimilate in voice to a preceding obstruent or nasal. After a voiced obstruent or nasal, non-implosive ejective stops become implosives. After a voiceless consonant other than [w̥], implosives become non-implosive.
- Consonants [ŋ͡m̥ g͡b ɓ̰ ...] persistently assimilate in voice to a following obstruent or nasal. Before a voiceless obstruent or nasal, implosives become non-implosive. Before a voiced obstruent or nasal, non-implosive ejective stops become implosives.
- [g͡b b bˠ d̻ g i u ɛ ɔ] persistently become creaky-voiced after a creaky-voiced implosive. Stops become implosives.
- Obstruents [k͡p bˠ ɓ̰ ...] assimilate in voice to a following obstruent. Before a voiced obstruent, ejective stops become implosives. Before a voiceless obstruent, implosives become non-implosive.
- Unrounded non-bilabial velar stops or nasals [ŋ̥ k g ...] become rounded [ŋ̥ʷ kʷ gʷ ...] after a high rounded vowel or semivowel.
- Short non-glottalised non-prenasalised voiced stops [g͡b bˠ g ...] become fricatives [w w ɣ ...] between a vowel or semivowel and a vowel or an approximant. [b bˠ] become [w w]; [g͡b] become [w]; [d̻] become [ɾ̻].
Some words
/mɛŋu/ | [mɛŋu] |
/t̻ɔt̻ɛs̻ɛ/ | [t̻ɔt̻ɛs̻ɛ] |
/n̻ikɛt̻ʼi/ | [n̻ikɛt̻ʼi] |
/s̻ikʼɛd̻u/ | [s̻ikʼɛɾ̻u] |
/n̻ɔt̻ɛ/ | [n̻ɔt̻ɛ] |
/pɛd̻ɛ/ | [pɛɾ̻ɛ] |
/kɛt̻ʼud̻ɔ/ | [kɛt̻ʼuɾ̻ɔ] |
/bixʷu/ | [bixʷu] |
/t̻is̻ɛs̻ɛ/ | [t̻is̻ɛs̻ɛ] |
/pukʼɛ/ | [pukʷʼɛ] |
/gukɔpu/ | [gukʷɔpu] |
/kʼipʼɔpi/ | [kʼipʼɔpi] |
/kibɔs̻ɛ/ | [kiwɔs̻ɛ] |
/s̻ɔxʷɔt̻ʼu/ | [s̻ɔxʷɔt̻ʼu] |
/kɛxʷɛpʼi/ | [kɛxʷɛpʼi] |
/l̻ɛwiŋu/ | [l̻ɛo̯iŋu] |
/t̻is̻ɛgu/ | [t̻is̻ɛɣu] |
/kʼɛkʼɔkɔ/ | [kʼɛkʼɔkɔ] |
/xʷɛs̻ɛ/ | [xʷɛs̻ɛ] |
/t̻ɛs̻ut̻ʼi/ | [t̻ɛs̻ut̻ʼi] |
/s̻ɛd̻ɔ/ | [s̻ɛɾ̻ɔ] |
/kʼɛt̻ɔpʼɛ/ | [kʼɛt̻ɔpʼɛ] |
/l̻ɔxʷɛ/ | [l̻ɔxʷɛ] |
/t̻ɔput̻ɛ/ | [t̻ɔput̻ɛ] |
/pin̻ixʷɔ/ | [pin̻ixʷɔ] |
/bixʷut̻ɔ/ | [bixʷut̻ɔ] |
/gɛs̻ɛpɛ/ | [gɛs̻ɛpɛ] |
/kis̻ɛkʼɔ/ | [kis̻ɛkʼɔ] |
/s̻ɛl̻ɛ/ | [s̻ɛl̻ɛ] |
/guɗ̻̰ɛ/ | [gṵɗ̻̰ɛ̰] |
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