Phonemic inventory
Consonants
| | Labial | | Alveolar | | Palatalised alveopal. sibilant | | Palatal | | Velar | | Glottal |
| Nasal | | | | m | | | | n | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Stop | | pʰ | p | b | | tʰ | t | d | | t͡ɕʰ | t͡ɕ | d͡ʑ | | cʰ | c | | | kʰ | k | | | | ʔ | |
| Fricative | | | f | | | | s | | | | ɕ | | | | | | | | | | | h | | |
| Approximant | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | j | | | | w | | | | |
Vowels
| | Front | | Central | | Back |
| High | | i | | | | u |
| Mid-high | | e | | | | o |
| Low | | | | a | | |
Syllable structure
(C1)V(R)(C2)
C1: a consonant
V: a vowel
R: a voiced sonorant; i.e. one of /m n j w/
C2: a consonant
Allophony
- Mid-high vowels [e o] persistently become high [i u] before a semivowel.
- Before a non-retroflexed coronal obstruent or nasal, rounded vowels become non-back unrounded; [w] are deleted.
- Coronal obstruents or nasals [n d d͡ʑ ...] assimilate in anteriority and retroflexion to a following obstruent sibilant. Before an alveopalatal obstruent, alveolar obstruents or nasals become retroflex; [tʰ t d] become [ʈ͡ʂʰ ʈ͡ʂ ɖ͡ʐ].
- Unaspirated voiceless stops [p c t͡s̻ʲ ...] become aspirated [pʰ cʰ t͡s̻ʰʲ ...] after an aspirated consonant.
- Coronal obstruents or nasals [n t͡s̻ʲ t͡ɕ ...] persistently assimilate in laminality to a following coronal obstruent or nasal. Before an apical obstruent or nasal, [t͡ɕʰ t͡ɕ d͡ʑ] are deleted; [ɕ] become [h].
- [p b t̻ d̻ t d c k t͡s̻ʲ d͡z̻ʲ t͡sʲ d͡zʲ ʈ͡ʂ̻ ɖ͡ʐ̻ ʈ͡ʂ ɖ͡ʐ t͡ɕ d͡ʑ f] become ejective before a glottal stop. [f] become [h]; voiced stops become ejective; bilabial stops become glottal stops.
- Non-sibilant coronal alveolar stops [t̻ʰ t̻ʼ t ...] become affricate sibilants [t͡s̻ʰ t͡s̻ʼ t͡s ...] before a non-nasal coronal fricative.
- Obstruents other than [t̻ʼ tʼ t͡s̻ʼʲ t͡sʼʲ ʈ͡ʂʼ̻ ʈ͡ʂʼ t͡ɕʼ], i.e. [pʰ t͡s̻ʰ ʈ͡ʂ̻ ...], persistently assimilate in voice to a preceding non-nasal consonant other than a semivowel. After a voiced stop, aspirated stops become unaspirated; ejective stops become non-ejective.
- Consonants other than [t̻ʼ tʼ t͡s̻ʼʲ t͡sʼʲ ʈ͡ʂʼ̻ ʈ͡ʂʼ t͡ɕʼ], i.e. [m g t͡ɕʰ ...], persistently assimilate in voice to a following consonant other than a semivowel. Before a voiced obstruent or nasal, aspirated consonants become unaspirated; ejective consonants become non-ejective. Before a voiceless consonant, nasals become non-nasal.
- Vowels [i u ɘ ...] persistently become nasal [ĩ ũ ɘ̃ ...] before a nasal.
- Consonants other than semivowels or palatal stops [m ʔ ʈ͡ʂʼ ...] assimilate in palatalisation to a following consonant. Before a front consonant, retroflex obstruents or nasals other than [ʂ̻ ʂ] become non-retroflex non-coronal velar; [ʂ̻ ʂ] become [h h].
- Voiceless stops [pʰ ʈ̻ t͡s ...] persistently assimilate in aspiration to a following consonant other than a semivowel. Before an aspirated consonant, ejective stops become non-ejective.
- Unaspirated voiceless stops [p ʈ t͡sʼ ...] become aspirated [pʰ ʈʰ t͡sʰ ...] before a glottal fricative. Ejective stops become non-ejective.
- Short non-nasal voiced consonants [b d͡z̻ʲ z̻ ...] become voiceless [p t͡s̻ʲ s̻ ...] before a voiceless glottal fricative.
- Alveopalatal affricates [t͡ɕʰ t͡ɕ t͡ɕʼ d͡ʑ] become non-affricate non-coronal palatal [cʰ c cʼ ɟ] before a palatal stop.
- Consonants other than [t̻ʼ tʼ t͡s̻ʼʲ t͡sʼʲ ʈ͡ʂʼ̻ ʈ͡ʂʼ t͡ɕʼ], i.e. [m ʈ t͡ʃʰ ...], persistently assimilate in voice to a preceding obstruent or nasal. After a voiced obstruent or nasal, aspirated consonants become unaspirated; ejective consonants become non-ejective; [ʔʲ hʲ] become [j j]. After a voiceless obstruent, nasals become non-nasal.
- Semivowels [j̥ j w̥ w] become mid-low [ɛ̥̯ ɛ̯ ɔ̥̯ ɔ̯] before a lax vowel.
- [hʲ] persistently become [h] before a non-labial non-coronal stop.
- Nasals [m n̻ʲ ɳ̻ ...] become nasals and assimilate in place of articulation to a following obstruent.
- Non-pharyngeal unrounded velar stops or nasals [ŋ̟ k̟ k ...] become front [ɲ c c ...] before a front high vowel or a high palatal semivowel.
Some words
| /tʰetʰsaw/ | [tʰet͡ssaw] |
| /siw/ | [siw] |
| /d͡ʑitdewpʰ/ | [d͡ʑittiw̥pʰ] |
| /totkat/ | [tɘtkat] |
| /somkʰaw/ | [sopʰkʰaw] |
| /fen/ | [fẽn] |
| /pesdewk/ | [pestiw̥k] |
| /natʰ/ | [natʰ] |
| /centʰak/ | [cetʰtʰak] |
| /wiwtan/ | [witãn] |
| /pijtawh/ | [pij̥taw̥h] |
| /titti/ | [titti] |
| /ben/ | [bẽn] |
| /o/ | [o] |
| /diʔi/ | [diʔi] |
| /diw/ | [diw] |
| /tʰew/ | [tʰiw] |
| /tʰinhpew/ | [tʰitʰhpʰiw] |
| /ijt͡ɕfuj/ | [ij̥t͡ʃfuj] |
| /tʰapʰuw/ | [tʰapʰuw] |
| /tosɕuj/ | [tɘʂhuj] |
| /bamtas/ | [baptas] |
| /etu/ | [etu] |
| /cʰin/ | [cʰĩn] |
| /tʰosaw/ | [tʰɘsaw] |
| /sawfu/ | [saw̥fu] |
| /kʰawnon/ | [kʰãnɘ̃n] |
| /tascanh/ | [tasʲcatʰh] |
| /sesin/ | [sesĩn] |
| /tu/ | [tu] |
Generated by Gleb version 0.3.2 / 5.0a with seed 25555056553.