Phonemic inventory
Consonants
| | Bilabial | | Alveolar | | Alveolar sibilant | | Vel. / uvul. |
| Nasal | | | m̥ | m | | | n̥ | n | | | | | | | ŋ̥ | ŋ |
| Prenasalised stop | | | | mb | | | | nd | | | | nd͡z | | | | ŋg |
| Stop | | pʰ | p | b | | tʰ | t | d | | t͡sʰ | t͡s | d͡z | | kʰ | k | g |
| Fricative | | | | | | | | | | | s | | | | χ | |
| Resonant | | | | | | | | ɾ | | | | | | | | w |
Vowels
| | Front | | Central | | Back |
| High | | i | | | | | | u | |
| Mid-low | | ɛ | ɛ̃ | | | | | ɔ | ɔ̃ |
| Low | | | | | a | ã | | | |
Syllable structure
(C1)V(C2)
C1: a consonant
V: a vowel
C2: a consonant other than a non-prenasalised voiced stop (/b d g d͡z/)
Allophony
- Non-affricate alveolar stops or nasals [n̥ nd t ...] are persistently deleted between a stop or nasal and an obstruent.
- Voiceless stops [pʰ tʰ k ...] assimilate in aspiration to a following obstruent or nasal and become unaspirated word-finally.
- Front vowels [i ɛ ɛ̃] become central [ɨ ɜ ɜ̃] before a velar semivowel.
- Nasals [m̥ n̥ ŋ̥ ...] persistently become nasals and assimilate in place of articulation to a following obstruent or nasal.
- Velar or uvular obstruents or nasals [ŋ̥ ɴ k ...] become non-back non-velar or uvular bilabial [m̥ m p ...] before a bilabial stop or nasal.
- Nasals [m̥ n̥ ŋ ...] become nasals and assimilate in place of articulation between an obstruent or nasal and an obstruent or nasal.
- [w] become [o̯] after a non-high vowel.
- Front vowels [i ɛ ɛ̃] become non-front [ɨ ɜ ɜ̃] after an uvular consonant.
- Non-glottal stop obstruents [mb tʰ nd͡z ...] persistently assimilate in voice to a preceding obstruent. After a voiceless obstruent, prenasalised stops become non-prenasalised. After a voiced stop, aspirated stops become unaspirated; obstruents other than stops become resonants.
- Consonants [m̥ mb g ...] persistently assimilate in voice to a following obstruent or nasal. Before a voiced stop or nasal, aspirated stops become unaspirated; fricatives become resonants. Before a voiceless obstruent or nasal, prenasalised stops become non-prenasalised.
- Semivowels [w̥ w o̯̥ o̯] become lax [ʊ̯̥ ʊ̯ ɔ̯̥ ɔ̯] before a lax vowel.
- Consonants [m̥ pʰ f ...] persistently assimilate in voice to a preceding obstruent or nasal. After a voiced stop or nasal, aspirated stops become unaspirated; fricatives become resonants. After a voiceless obstruent or nasal, prenasalised stops become non-prenasalised.
- Short non-glottal stop non-prenasalised voiced stops [b d g d͡z] become resonants [ ɾ ɾ] between a vowel or semivowel and a vowel or semivowel.
Some words
| /gunɾã/ | [gunɾã] |
| /gɛ̃mɛ/ | [gɛ̃mɛ] |
| /tʰitʰuŋ/ | [tʰitʰuŋ] |
| /itʰi/ | [itʰi] |
| /d͡zaduw/ | [d͡zaɾuw] |
| /wiŋ̥a/ | [wiŋ̥a] |
| /χuni/ | [χuni] |
| /mɛŋgi/ | [mɛŋgi] |
| /dasuw/ | [dasuw] |
| /sunu/ | [sunu] |
| /wiwɔ/ | [wɨʊ̯ɔ] |
| /n̥un̥ã/ | [n̥un̥ã] |
| /ŋ̥iχukʰ/ | [ŋ̥iχuk] |
| /χɛtɛ̃/ | [χɜtɛ̃] |
| /watʰɛ/ | [ʊ̯atʰɛ] |
| /ŋ̥itʰi/ | [ŋ̥itʰi] |
| /wãŋgiɾ/ | [ʊ̯ãŋgiɾ] |
| /digɛ/ | [diɛ] |
| /dɛ̃si/ | [dɛ̃si] |
| /mɔnd͡zɔ̃/ | [mɔnd͡zɔ̃] |
| /tʰaɾak/ | [tʰaɾak] |
| /daa/ | [daa] |
| /tɔgakʰ/ | [tɔak] |
| /tʰɛɾŋãpʰ/ | [tʰɛɾŋãp] |
| /gi/ | [gi] |
| /wasu/ | [ʊ̯asu] |
| /wigɛ/ | [wiɛ] |
| /n̥iwi/ | [n̥ɨwi] |
| /d͡zɛɾsu/ | [d͡zɛɾ̥su] |
| /sãkʰu/ | [sãkʰu] |
Generated by Gleb version 0.3.2 / 5.0a with seed 59773868742.