Phonemic inventory
Consonants
| | Labial | | Alveolar | | Palatoalv. sibilant / palatal | | Velar |
Nasal | | | | m | | | | n | | | | | | | | ŋ |
Stop | | | | b | | tʰ | t | d | | t͡ʃʰ | t͡ʃ | d͡ʒ | | kʰ | k | g |
Fricative | | | f | v | | | s | z | | | ʃ | ʒ | | | | |
Tap | | | | | | | | ɾ | | | | | | | | |
Approximant | | | | | | | | l | | | | j | | | | |
Vowels
| | Front | | Central | | Back |
High | | i | | | | | | ɯ | u |
Low | | | | | a | | | | |
Syllable structure
(C)V
C: a consonant
V: a vowel
Allophony
- Coronal consonants [n t͡ʃʰ z ...] assimilate in laminality to a following coronal consonant.
- Unaspirated voiceless stops [t̻ t t͡ʃ ...] persistently become aspirated [t̻ʰ tʰ t͡ʃʰ ...] after an aspirated stop.
- Non-pharyngeal non-palatal or velar consonants [m t͡ʃʰ s ...] persistently become front [mʲ t͡ɕʰ sʲ ...] before a palatal semivowel.
- Voiceless stops [t̻ʰ tʰʲ t͡ɕʰ ...] persistently assimilate in aspiration to a following obstruent or nasal and become aspirated word-finally.
- Obstruents [b g vʲ ...] persistently assimilate in voice to a following obstruent and become voiceless word-finally. Before a voiced obstruent, aspirated stops become unaspirated.
- Nasals [m n̻ n ...] persistently become nasals and assimilate in place of articulation to a following obstruent or nasal. Word-finally, nasals are deleted.
- [p b pʲ bʲ t̻ʰ t̻ʰʲ tʰ tʰʲ kʰ k g t͡ʃʰ t͡ʃ d͡ʒ t͡ɕʰ t͡ɕ d͡ʑ t͡ʃ̺ʰ t͡ʃ̺ d͡ʒ̺ t͡ɕ̺ʰ t͡ɕ̺ d͡ʑ̺] become fricatives between a vowel or resonant and a vowel or semivowel. Non-sibilant coronal stops become stops; aspirated stops become unaspirated; [k g] are deleted.
- Labial obstruents or nasals [m b ɸʲ ...] assimilate in labiodentality to a following labial obstruent or nasal.
- Non-velar short voiced stops or nasals other than [m mʲ], i.e. [ɱ ṉʲ d̻ ...], become taps [m ɾ̃ʲ ɾ̻ ...] between a vowel or semivowel and a vowel or resonant. Non-coronal stops or nasals become obstruents; palatoalveolar stops or nasals become alveolar; palatoalveolar laminal stops or nasals become apical; bilabial stops become non-bilabial; [ɱ ɱʲ] become [m mʲ].
- Consonants [m t s̻ ...] persistently assimilate in voice to a preceding obstruent or nasal. After a voiceless obstruent, nasals become non-nasal. After a voiced obstruent or nasal, aspirated stops become unaspirated.
- Vowels [i ɯ u a] become nasal [ĩ ɯ̃ ũ ã] before a nasal consonant.
- Tense vowels and semivowels [j̥ i ɯ̃ ...] become lax [ɪ̥̯ ɪ ʊ̜̃ ...] before a non-labial tap.
- Short non-nasal voiced consonants [b d͡ʒ̺ ʒ̺ ...] become voiceless [p t͡ʃ̺ ʃ̺ ...] after a voiceless aspirated stop.
- Coronal consonants [n̻ t͡ʃ ɕ̺ ...] persistently assimilate in laminality to a following coronal consonant.
Some words
/kinau/ | [kɪ̃ɾ̃au] |
/kʰigisa/ | [kʰiisa] |
/d͡ʒialu/ | [d͡ʒialu] |
/batʰa/ | [bata] |
/vava/ | [vava] |
/muta/ | [muta] |
/ŋanana/ | [ŋãɾ̃ãɾ̃a] |
/vakiki/ | [vaii] |
/iti/ | [iti] |
/vafaka/ | [vafaa] |
/aŋu/ | [ãŋu] |
/tʰiɯ/ | [tʰiɯ] |
/ɾiza/ | [ɾiza] |
/vad͡ʒisi/ | [vaʒisi] |
/gafuji/ | [gafuji] |
/diva/ | [diva] |
/niɾivi/ | [nɪɾivi] |
/gakʰikʰa/ | [gaia] |
/ɾatʰuva/ | [ɾatuva] |
/ŋaaŋu/ | [ŋããŋu] |
/adana/ | [aɾãɾ̃a] |
/jaɾa/ | [jaɾa] |
/ŋat͡ʃa/ | [ŋaʃa] |
/dibaji/ | [diβaji] |
/java/ | [java] |
/kʰada/ | [kʰaɾa] |
/tʰanu/ | [tʰãɾ̃u] |
/fukʰaga/ | [fuaa] |
/jud͡ʒa/ | [juʒa] |
/lat͡ʃʰa/ | [laʃa] |
Generated by Gleb version 0.3.2 / 5.0a with seed 12668066517.