Phonemic inventory

Syllable structure

(C₁)(R)V(C₂)

C₁: a consonant
R: an approximant; i.e. one of /l j w/
V: a vowel
C₂: a consonant

Allophony

• Palatal or velar stops [cʰ ɟ k ...] assimilate in labiality and labiodentality to a following consonant.
• [n] persistently become nasals and assimilate in place of articulation to a following obstruent or nasal.
• Non-glottal stop unaspirated consonants [ɲ͡m ɟ͡b c ...] assimilate in voice to a preceding obstruent. After a voiceless obstruent, nasals become non-nasal.
• Consonants [ɲ͡m g͡b c ...] persistently assimilate in voice to a following obstruent or nasal. Before a voiced obstruent or nasal, aspirated stops become unaspirated. Before a voiceless obstruent, nasals become non-nasal.
• Non-back vowels and non-velarised semivowels [j̥ j ĩ ...] assimilate in frontness or palatalisation to a following semivowel. Before a rounded semivowel, semivowels are deleted.
• Alveolar stops [tʰ t d] become affricate sibilants [t͡sʰ t͡s d͡z] before a non-nasal alveolar fricative.
• Unrounded consonants [ɲ͡m c͡pʰ̪ ɟ ...] become rounded [ŋ͡mʷ̟ k͡pʷʰ̟̪ gʷ̟ ...] before a rounded semivowel. Palatal consonants become non-palatal.
• Back vowels and semivowels [w̥ w ɑ ...] become non-back [w̟̥ w̟ a ...] before a non-retroflexed alveolar consonant.
• Central vowels [ɨ ɨ̃ a ...] persistently become front [i ĩ ɛ ...] after a palatal consonant. Non-high vowels become non-low.
• Obstruents or nasals other than non-labial palatal or velar stops or nasals [ɲ͡m g͡b pʷ̪ ...] assimilate in dorsality and uvularity and palatalisation and whether palatal or palatalised velar to a following obstruent or nasal and become non-palatal or velar word-finally. Before a palatal stop or nasal, [ŋ͡mʷ ŋ͡ɱʷ mʷ ɱʷ nʷ k͡pʷʰ k͡pʷ g͡bʷ k͡pʷʰ̪ k͡pʷ̪ g͡bʷ̪ pʷ bʷ pʷ̪ bʷ̪ tʷʰ tʷ dʷ t͡sʷʰ t͡sʷ d͡zʷ fʷ vʷ sʷ zʷ] become [ŋ͡mʷ̟ ŋ͡ɱʷ̟ ŋ͡mʷ̟ ŋ͡ɱʷ̟ ŋʷ̟ k͡pʷʰ̟ k͡pʷ̟ g͡bʷ̟ k͡pʷʰ̟̪ k͡pʷ̟̪ g͡bʷ̟̪ k͡pʷ̟ g͡bʷ̟ k͡pʷ̟̪ g͡bʷ̟̪ kʷʰ̟ kʷ̟ gʷ̟ k͡xʷʰ̟ k͡xʷ̟ g͡ɣʷ̟ w̟̥ w̟ xʷ̟ ɣʷ̟]. Before a palatal or velar stop or nasal, alveolar obstruents or nasals become non-alveolar; labiodental fricatives become non-labial semivowels.
• Consonants [ɲ͡m g͡bʷ̟̪ t͡sʷ ...] 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.
• Back vowels and semivowels [w̥ w ɑ ...] become central [w̟̥ w̟ a ...] before a palatal consonant.
• Back vowels and semivowels [w̥ w ɑ ...] become central [w̟̥ w̟ a ...] before a palatal consonant.
• Nasals [ɲ͡m ŋ͡ɱʷ̟ n ...] become nasals and assimilate in place of articulation between an obstruent or nasal and an obstruent or nasal.
• Obstruents [c͡pʰ pʷ d͡zʷ ...] persistently assimilate in voice to a following obstruent and become voiceless word-finally. Before a voiced obstruent, aspirated stops become unaspirated.
• Voiced obstruents [ɟ͡b b̪ g͡ɣ̟ ...] become nasals [ɲ͡m ɱ ŋ̟ ...] after a nasal phone. Affricates become nasals; [v vʷ ɣ̟ ɣ] become [β̞ β̞ʷ ]; [ʝ ɣʷ̟ ɣʷ] become [j w̟ w]; [z zʷ] become [ɹ ɹʷ]; [d͡z d͡zʷ] become [n nʷ].
• Aspirated stops [c͡pʰ k͡pʷʰ̪ kʷʰ̟ ...] become unaspirated [c͡p k͡pʷ̪ kʷ̟ ...].
• Short non-nasal voiced phones other than lax vowels [ɟ͡b ɟ ɣ̟ ...] become voiceless [c͡p c x̟ ...] after a voiceless consonant word-finally.
• Velar obstruents or nasals [ŋ͡m̟ k͡pʷ kʷʰ ...] become uvular [ɴ͡m q͡pʷ qʷʰ ...] before a non-front non-high vowel. Fronted obstruents or nasals become uvular.
• Non-nasal vowels [i y̥ ʉ̥ ...] persistently become nasal [ĩ ỹ̥ ʉ̥̃ ...] before a nasal phone.
• Unrounded non-low vowels and unrounded semivowels [j̥ ĩ ɨ̃ ...] become rounded [w̟̥ ỹ ʉ̃ ...] before a rounded semivowel. Semivowels become velar; [ɯ̃] become [ʉ̃].

Some words

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