Phonemic inventory
Consonants
| | Labial | | Alveolar | | Palatal lateral | | Velar | | Uvular |
Nasal | | | m | | | | n | | | | | | | | ŋ | | | | ɴ | |
Stop | | p | b | ɓ̰ | | t | d | ɗ̰ | | | | | | k | g | | | q | ɢ | |
Fricative | | f | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Tap | | | | | | | ɾ | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Approximant | | | | | | | l | | | | ʎ | | | | ʟ | | | | | |
Vowels
| | Front | | Central | | Back |
High | | i | iː | | | | | u | uː |
Mid-low | | ɛ | ɛː | | | | | ɔ | ɔː |
Low | | | | | a | aː | | | |
Syllable structure
(C1)V(C2)
C1: a consonant
V: a vowel
C2: a consonant other than an uvular consonant (/ɴ q ɢ/) or one of /b d g/ (/b d g/)
Allophony
- Non-creaky-voiced non-nasal consonants [p k f ...] persistently assimilate in voice to a following obstruent or nasal and become voiceless word-finally.
- Central vowels [a aː] persistently become non-low front [ɛ ɛː] after a palatal approximant.
- High vowels [i iː u uː] persistently become non-high [e eː o oː] after a non-near-high vowel or an uvular consonant except a vowel.
- Non-nasal implosives [ɓ̰ ɗ̰] persistently become non-creaky-voiced [ɓ ɗ] before a non-nasal phone except a non-nasal vowel or resonant.
- Labial obstruents or nasals [m b ɓ̰ ...] become non-labial rounded and assimilate in dorsality and uvularity and palatalisation and whether palatal or palatalised velar to a following phone.
- Non-ejective voiced vowels and non-glottal stop voiced consonants other than [l], i.e. [m ɢʷ u ...], become creaky-voiced [ɓ ṵ ...] before a creaky-voiced implosive. Consonants other than stops or [ɣʷ ʁʷ] become non-creaky-voiced; non-implosive obstruents other than [v] become implosives; [m n] become [ɓ ɗ]; [v] become [ʋ]; [ɾ] become [ɗ].
- Non-nasal consonants other than implosives [p ɢ ɾ̥ ...] persistently assimilate in voice to a preceding obstruent or nasal.
- Obstruents other than voiced fricatives [p kʷ ɓ ...] become nasals [m ŋʷ m ...] after a nasal. Voiceless obstruents become voiced; obstruents other than stops become stops; creaky-voiced implosives become non-creaky-voiced stops.
- Vowels [i ḛ ɛː ...] become nasal [ĩ ḛ̃ ɛ̃ː ...] before a nasal.
- Obstruents [p gʷ ɗ ...] persistently assimilate in glottalisation to a preceding obstruent. After a creaky-voiced implosive, non-implosive voiced obstruents other than [v] become implosives; [v] become [ʋ].
- Ejective fricatives [fʼ xʼʷ χʼʷ] persistently become non-glottalised non-nasal resonants [ʋ̥ ].
- Short alveolar approximant laterals [l̥ l] become non-lateral taps [ɾ̥ ɾ] between a vowel or resonant and a vowel or resonant.
- Non-nasal consonants other than glottalised stops [p ɢʷ ʁʷ ...] persistently assimilate in voice to a following obstruent or nasal. Before a voiceless obstruent, implosives become non-implosive. Before a voiced obstruent or nasal, ejective fricatives become non-glottalised resonants.
- Velar or uvular obstruents or nasals [ŋ kʷ qʼʷ ...] persistently assimilate in uvularity to a following dorsal consonant.
- Non-back vowels [i eː ɛ̰̃ ...] become back [ɯ ɤː ʌ̰̃ ...] after a back consonant.
- Short non-glottalised non-prenasalised voiced stops [b g ɢʷ ...] become fricatives [β ɣ ʁʷ ...] between a vowel and a vowel. Alveolar stops become resonants; [ɓ] become [ʋ].
- Non-pharyngeal non-alveolar consonants other than uvular consonants [m kʷ ɣ ...] assimilate in palatalisation to a following consonant. Before a palatal approximant, velar obstruents or nasals other than [ŋ] become non-front.
- Stops or nasals [m bʲ kʼʷ ...] become non-affricate and assimilate in place of articulation to a following obstruent. Before an uvular obstruent, implosives become ejective glottal stops. Before a velar obstruent, implosives become ejective glottal stops.
Some words
/qɔɢanu/ | [qɔʁɑ̃nu] |
/qaɴɔ/ | [qɑ̃ɴɔ] |
/ʎɛːɗ̰ɛː/ | [ʎɛ̰ːɗ̰ɛː] |
/ɗ̰iba/ | [ɗ̰iβa] |
/ɴuŋi/ | [ɴõŋɯ] |
/kuqɛ/ | [kuqʌ] |
/nɔki/ | [nɔkɯ] |
/ŋɛːɗ̰iɗ̰/ | [ŋʌ̰ːɗ̰itʼ] |
/ɓ̰iːti/ | [ɓ̰iːti] |
/qaːŋɛː/ | [qɑ̃ːŋʌː] |
/iːɗ̰ɛ/ | [ḭːɗ̰ɛ] |
/ikaːt/ | [ikɑːt] |
/ɢɔbiː/ | [ɢɔβiː] |
/naːgi/ | [naːɣɯ] |
/nɛtmi/ | [nɛdmi] |
/gɛːnɛː/ | [gʌ̃ːnɛː] |
/nɛnɛ/ | [nɛ̃nɛ] |
/dagɛ/ | [daɣʌ] |
/gɔgiː/ | [gɔɣɯː] |
/lɛːɢi/ | [lɛːʁɤ] |
/bɛːpaː/ | [bɛːpaː] |
/ŋakɛ/ | [ŋɑkʌ] |
/punɛː/ | [pũnɛː] |
/miːɴa/ | [mĩːɴɑ] |
/ɓ̰ɔːɔ/ | [ɓ̰ɔːɔ] |
/ɛkɛː/ | [ɛkʌː] |
/kaɴɛgaː/ | [kɑ̃ɴʌɣɑː] |
/ɛːŋɛː/ | [ɛ̃ːŋʌː] |
/mɛŋa/ | [mɛ̃ŋɑ] |
/nɛmɢɛ/ | [nɛ̃ɴʷɴʌ] |
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