Phonemic inventory

Syllable structure

(C)V

C: a consonant
V: a vowel

Allophony

• Non-glottal stop non-glottal fricative non-nasal resonants [r j w ...] persistently become voiceless [r̥ j̥ w̥ ...] after a non-nasal voiceless consonant.
• Nasals [m n] persistently become nasals and assimilate in place of articulation to a following obstruent or nasal.
• [n] become [l] before an alveolar approximant.
• [a] become [ɛ] before a palatal approximant.
• Stops [p t k ...] persistently become glottalised [ɓ̰ tʼ kʼ ...] after a non-nasal glottal stop. Voiced stops become implosives; [p] become [ɓ̰].
• Obstruents [p d ɓ̰ ...] persistently assimilate in voice to a following non-nasal consonant other than a resonant. Before a voiced stop, [tʼ kʼ] become [ɗ̰ ]. Before a voiceless consonant other than a resonant, implosives become non-implosive.
• Consonants [m kʼ r ...] persistently assimilate in voice to a following consonant other than a resonant. Before a voiced obstruent or nasal, [tʼ kʼ ʔ] become [ɗ̰ ]; [h] are deleted. Before a voiceless consonant other than a resonant, nasals become non-nasal; implosives become non-implosive. Before a consonant other than a resonant, [pʼ] are deleted.
• [h] persistently become [w̥] before an obstruent or nasal.
• Non-ejective voiced vowels and non-glottal stop voiced consonants other than fricatives or [l w], i.e. [m d ʟ ...], persistently become creaky-voiced [ɓ ɗ̰ ...] before a creaky-voiced implosive. Consonants other than stops become non-glottalised; stops become implosives; [m ɱ n] become [ɓ ɓ ɗ]; [r] become [ɗ].
• Before a non-nasal alveolar fricative sibilant, non-sibilant coronal non-implosive stops become non-nasal alveolar affricate sibilants; [ɗ̰] become [ɗ]; [ɗ] become [r].
• [ʔ] become stops and assimilate in place of articulation to a following stop.
• Consonants [m g h ...] persistently assimilate in voice to a preceding consonant other than a resonant. After a consonant other than a resonant, [pʼ] become [ɓ̰]. After a voiceless consonant other than a resonant, implosives become non-implosive; nasals become non-nasal. After a voiced obstruent or nasal, non-labial glottalised consonants other than [ɗ̰] become implosives; [t͡sʼ] become [ɗ]; [h] are deleted.
• Persistently before a rounded semivowel, front vowels and semivowels become back rounded; low vowels become back mid-low rounded pharyngealised.
• Alveolar voiced consonants other than [l], i.e. [n ɗ d͡z ...], become non-nasal approximant laterals [l l l ...] after an alveolar approximant. [ɗ̰] become [l].
• Non-ejective voiced vowels and non-glottal stop voiced semivowels other than [w], i.e. [j u ɔ ...], become creaky-voiced [ ṵ ɔ̰ ...] after a creaky-voiced implosive. [j] are deleted.
• Labial obstruents or nasals [m pʼ ɓ ...] assimilate in labiodentality to a following labial obstruent or nasal. Before a bilabial stop or nasal, [pʼ] become [ɓ̰].

Some words

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