Phonemic inventory
Consonants
| | Bilabial-palatal | | Bilabial | | Alveolar | | Alveolar lateral | | Retroflex | | Retroflex lateral | | Palatoalv. sibilant | | Palatal | | Palatal lateral | | Velar | | Rounded velar / bilabial-velar | | Glottal |
| Nasal | | | | | | | | m | | | | n | | | | | | | | ɳ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Prenasalised stop | | | | ɲ͡mɟ͡b | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ɲɟ | | | | | | | | ŋg | | | | ŋ͡mg͡b | | | | |
| Stop | | c͡p | | ɟ͡b | | p | | b | | t | tʼ | d | | | | | | ʈ | ʈʼ | ɖ | | | | | | t͡ʃ | t͡ʃʼ | d͡ʒ | | c | cʼ | ɟ | | | | | | k | kʼ | g | | k͡p | | g͡b | | | | |
| Fricative | | | | | | | | | | s | | z | | | | | | ʂ | | ʐ | | | | | | ʃ | | ʒ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | h | | |
| Approximant | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | l | | | | | | | | ɭ | | | | | | | | j | | | | ʎ | | | | | | | | w | | | | |
Vowels
| | Front | | Central | | Back |
| High | | i | ĩ | | | | | u | ũ |
| Mid-high | | e | ẽ | | | | | o | õ |
| Low | | | | | a | ã | | | |
Syllable structure
(C1)V(C2)
C1: a consonant
V: a vowel
C2: a non-palatal consonant; i.e. a consonant other than /ɲ͡mɟ͡b ɲɟ c͡p ɟ͡b c cʼ ɟ j ʎ/
Allophony
- Non-retroflex coronal consonants [n t͡ʃ z ...] persistently become retroflex [ɳ ʈ͡ʂ̻ ʐ ...] after a retroflex consonant.
- Front vowels and semivowels [j i e ...] become non-front [ ɨ ɘ ...] before a retroflex consonant. [j] are deleted.
- Prenasalised stops [ɲ͡mɟ͡b ŋ͡mg͡b ɲɟ ŋg] become non-prenasalised [ɟ͡b g͡b ɟ g] after an obstruent.
- Palatal stops [ɲ͡mɟ͡b c͡p c ...] become alveopalatal [nḏʲ ṯʲ ṯʲ ...] before a palatoalveolar obstruent. Bilabial stops become non-bilabial.
- Non-nasal consonants [ɲ͡mɟ͡b ʈʼ t͡ʃʼ ...] persistently assimilate in voice to a following consonant other than an approximant. Before a voiceless consonant, prenasalised stops become non-prenasalised. Before a voiced obstruent or nasal, ejective stops become non-ejective; [h] are deleted.
- Before a non-retroflex coronal consonant, back vowels become non-back unrounded; rounded semivowels become non-velar unrounded glottal fricatives.
- Non-affricate coronal stops or nasals [n tʼ ɖ ...] are persistently deleted between a stop or nasal and a stop or nasal.
- Non-nasal approximants [l̥ ɭ ʎ̥ ...] persistently assimilate in voice to a preceding consonant other than an approximant.
- Non-nasal consonants [ɲ͡mɟ͡b ṯʲ ʂ̻ ...] assimilate in voice to a preceding obstruent or nasal. After a voiceless obstruent, prenasalised stops become non-prenasalised. After a voiced obstruent or nasal, ejective stops become non-ejective; [h] are deleted.
- Coronal consonants [n ṯʲʼ ʂ̻ ...] assimilate in laminality to a following coronal consonant. Before an apical consonant, alveopalatal stops become non-front laminal.
- Obstruents [ɲ͡mɟ͡b ɖ̻ ʈ͡ʂʼ ...] persistently assimilate in voice to a following obstruent and become voiceless word-finally. Before a voiced obstruent, ejective stops become non-ejective. Before a voiceless obstruent or pause, prenasalised stops become non-prenasalised.
- Semivowels [j̥ j w̥ w] become mid-low [ɛ̯̥ ɛ̯ ɔ̯̥ ɔ̯] before a lax vowel.
- Short non-ejective non-glottal fricative voiceless consonants [c͡p k ʃ̺ ...] become voiced [ɟ͡b g ʒ̺ ...] between a voiced phone and a voiced phone.
- Short non-ejective non-glottal fricative voiceless consonants [c͡p k ʃ̺ ...] become voiced [ɟ͡b g ʒ̺ ...] between a voiced phone and a voiced phone.
- Voiceless stops [c͡p ʈ kʼ ...] persistently assimilate in glottalisation to a preceding consonant other than an approximant. After an ejective stop, bilabial stops become non-ejective voiced.
- Unrounded consonants other than retroflex consonants or uvular semivowels or [j̥ j], i.e. [m t t͡ʃ̺ ...], become retroflex [ɳ ʈ ʈ͡ʂ ...] before a retroflex consonant. Front consonants become non-front; bilabial stops or nasals become non-bilabial; velar stops become non-back non-dorsal; palatal stops become non-dorsal; [ʎ̥ ʎ] become [ɭ̥ ɭ].
- Coronal consonants other than alveolar approximants [n̻ ʈ t͡ʃ̺ ...] persistently assimilate in anteriority and retroflexion to a following obstruent sibilant. Before a retroflex obstruent sibilant, alveopalatal stops become non-front. Before a palatoalveolar obstruent sibilant, approximant laterals become alveolar; [ɭ̻̥ ɭ̻] become [l̥ l].
- Nasals [m n ɳ ...] become nasals and assimilate in place of articulation to a following obstruent or nasal.
- [ŋ͡m m n̻ ṉ ṉ̺ ŋ ŋ͡mg͡b nd̻ nḏ nḏ̺ ŋg k͡p g͡b p b t̻ tʼ̻ d̻ ṯ ṯʼ ḏ ṯ̺ʰ ṯ̺ ṯ̺ʼ ḏ̺ k kʼ g t͡s̻ t͡sʼ̻ d͡z̻ t͡ʃ t͡ʃʼ d͡ʒ t͡ʃ̺ t͡ʃ̺ʼ d͡ʒ̺ s̻ z̻ ʃ ʒ ʃ̺ ʒ̺ h l̥̻ l̻] become front before a front high vowel or a high palatal semivowel. Apical obstruents or nasals become non-front; apical obstruents or nasals become laminal.
Some words
| /ja/ | [ɛ̯a] |
| /pupĩ/ | [pubʲĩ] |
| /wai/ | [ɔ̯ai] |
| /g͡bawaʒ/ | [g͡baɔ̯aʃ] |
| /cʼã/ | [cʼã] |
| /kilkʼũd͡ʒ/ | [cil̥kʼɨ̃t͡ʃ] |
| /wame/ | [ɔ̯ame] |
| /ʈʼẽna/ | [ʈʼẽna] |
| /ŋgusutʼ/ | [ŋgɨzɨtʼ] |
| /miʈʼũ/ | [mɨʈʼũ] |
| /pan/ | [pan] |
| /wãlĩ/ | [ɔ̯ãlĩ] |
| /k͡pug/ | [k͡puk] |
| /peba/ | [peba] |
| /tʼog͡bon/ | [tʼog͡bɘn] |
| /ʂo/ | [ʂo] |
| /g͡bin/ | [ɟ͡bin] |
| /hiji/ | [hʲiji] |
| /ak͡p/ | [ak͡p] |
| /do/ | [do] |
| /cʼu/ | [cʼu] |
| /tʼitʼ/ | [tʼitʼ] |
| /zujĩ/ | [zujĩ] |
| /k͡pãnu/ | [k͡pãnu] |
| /g͡bacʼo/ | [g͡bacʼo] |
| /kã/ | [kã] |
| /sokʼa/ | [sokʼa] |
| /tʼuga/ | [tʼuga] |
| /bableŋ͡mg͡b/ | [bablek͡p] |
| /hã/ | [hã] |
Generated by Gleb version 0.3.2 / 5.0a with seed 54081621178.