Phonemic inventory
Consonants
| | Labial | | Alveolar | | Alveolar lateral | | Retroflex | | Retroflex lateral | | Pal. / vel. | | Rounded velar / bilabial-velar | | Rounded velar lateral |
| Nasal | | | m | | | n | | | | | | ɳ | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Stop | | pʰ | p | | tʰ | t | | | | | ʈʰ | ʈ | | | | | kʰ | k | | k͡pʰ | k͡p | | | |
| Fricative | | | f | | | s | | | | | | ʂ | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Approximant | | | | | | | | | l | | | | | | ɭ | | | j | | | w | | | ʟʷ |
Vowels
| | Front | | Back |
| High | | i | iː | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Mid-high | | e | eː | ẽ | eː̃ | ø | øː | ø̃ | øː̃ | | | | | | | | | |
| Low | | | | | | | | | | | ɑ | ɑː | ɑ̃ | ɑː̃ | | | | |
Syllable structure
(C1)V(C2)
C1: a consonant
V: a vowel
C2: a non-retroflex consonant; i.e. a consonant other than /ɳ ʈʰ ʈ ʂ ɭ/
Allophony
- Retroflex consonants [ɳ ʈʰ ʂ ...] become non-retroflex alveolar [n tʰ s ...] after a front high vowel or a high palatal semivowel.
- Semivowels [j w] become near-high [ɪ̯ ʊ̯] after a lax vowel.
- Stops [k͡pʰ p ʈʰ ...] assimilate in aspiration to a preceding obstruent or nasal.
- Consonants [m tʰ ʂ ...] persistently assimilate in voice to a preceding obstruent or nasal. After an obstruent, nasals become non-nasal. After a nasal, aspirated stops become unaspirated; fricative sibilants become resonants; [f] become [w].
- Consonants [m ʈʰ l ...] persistently assimilate in voice to a following obstruent or nasal. Before a voiceless obstruent, nasals become non-nasal. Before a voiced stop or nasal, aspirated stops become unaspirated; fricative sibilants become resonants; [f] become [w].
- Labial obstruents or nasals [m k͡p p ...] assimilate in labiodentality to a following labial obstruent or nasal.
- Non-retroflex alveolar consonants [n d ɾ ...] persistently become retroflex [ɳ ɖ ɽ ...] after a retroflex consonant.
- Non-nasal vowels [i e øː ...] become nasal [ĩ ẽ øː̃ ...] before a nasal phone.
- Non-back vowels and non-velarised semivowels [j̥ iː ẽ ...] become central [ ɨː ɘ̃ ...] before a non-palatal consonant. Semivowels are deleted.
- Obstruents [k͡pʰ b ʈ ...] persistently assimilate in voice to a preceding obstruent. After a voiced stop, aspirated stops become unaspirated; fricative sibilants become resonants; [ɸ f] become [w w].
- Front vowels and semivowels [j̥ iː ẽ ...] persistently become central [ ɨː ɘ̃ ...] before a velar semivowel. Semivowels are deleted.
- Non-pharyngeal unrounded velar stops [k͡pʰ k͡p̪ʰ kʰ ...] become palatal [c͡pʰ c͡p̪ʰ cʰ ...] before a non-low front vowel or a front semivowel.
- Non-retroflex alveolar consonants [n d ɾ ...] become retroflex [ɳ ɖ ɽ ...] before a retroflex consonant.
- Non-pharyngeal non-palatal consonants other than lax semivowels or [w̥ w], i.e. [m p̪ʰ f ...], become front [mʲ p̪ʲʰ fʲ ...] after a palatal consonant except a semivowel. [ʈʰ ʈ ɖ ɽ̥ ɽ ɭ̥ ɭ] become [tʲʰ tʲ dʲ ɾʲ̥ ɾʲ lʲ̥ lʲ]; rounded approximants become unrounded; [ɳ ʂ] become [ṉʲ ɕ].
- [n nʲ tʰ t d s sʲ ɾ̥ ɾ l̥ l] become retroflex after a retroflex consonant. Palatalised obstruents or nasals become alveopalatal laminal.
- Retroflex consonants [ɳ ɖ ɽ ...] persistently assimilate in anteriority and retroflexion to a following fricative sibilant. Before [ɕ], consonants become alveolar.
- Non-back vowels and non-velarised semivowels [j̥ ɨː ø̃ ...] assimilate in frontness or palatalisation to a following semivowel. Before a rounded semivowel, semivowels are deleted.
- Central vowels [ɨ ɘ ɵ ...] become front [i e ø ...] before a palatal semivowel.
- Non-retroflex obstruents or nasals other than non-labial palatal or velar stops [m c͡p̪ p̪ʲ ...] persistently assimilate in dorsality and uvularity and palatalisation and whether palatal or palatalised velar to a following obstruent or nasal. Before a palatal or velar stop, non-labial obstruents or nasals become non-coronal; non-coronal fricatives become non-labial velar rounded approximants.
- Unrounded vowels [i ɨ̃ ɘː ...] become rounded [y ʉ̃ ɵː ...] before a rounded semivowel.
- [m mʲ ɱ ɱʲ n nʲ ṉ ṉʲ pʰ p b pʲʰ pʲ bʲ p̪ʰ p̪ b̪ p̪ʲʰ p̪ʲ b̪ʲ tʰ t d tʲʰ tʲ dʲ ɸ ɸʲ f fʲ s sʲ ʃ ɕ ɾ̥ ɾ ɾʲ̥ ɾʲ l̥ l lʲ̥ lʲ ʎ̥ ʎ] persistently assimilate in palatalisation to a following consonant.
Some words
| /nitʰk͡pʰɑ/ | [nɨkʰk͡pʰɑ] |
| /epʰtʰøk͡pʰ/ | [ɘpʰtʰɵk͡pʰ] |
| /iːpʰ/ | [ɨːpʰ] |
| /k͡pʰeːpʰk͡piː/ | [k͡pʰɘːc͡pʰc͡pʰiː] |
| /k͡petʰfit/ | [k͡pɘtʰfɨt] |
| /k͡pekʰeʟʷ/ | [k͡pɘkʰɘʟʷ] |
| /tepʰmɑ̃tʰ/ | [tɘpʰpɑ̃tʰ] |
| /ɳeːkʰk͡pɑː̃f/ | [ɳɘːkʰk͡pʰɑː̃f] |
| /mẽil/ | [mẽɨl] |
| /fiːfi/ | [fɨːfi] |
| /kʰeːtʰ/ | [kʰɘːtʰ] |
| /iːjkʰiː/ | [ɨːcʰiː] |
| /ɑːkʰk͡pe/ | [ɑːkʰc͡pʰe] |
| /mẽe/ | [mẽe] |
| /jɑttẽpʰ/ | [jɑttɘ̃pʰ] |
| /eːmkʰeːj/ | [ɘː̃ɲ͡mɟeːj] |
| /k͡pine/ | [k͡pɨ̃ne] |
| /nipʰk͡pẽ/ | [nɨc͡pʰc͡pʰẽ] |
| /ʟʷek͡pʰit/ | [ʟʷɘk͡pʰɨt] |
| /neː̃meː̃/ | [nɘː̃meː̃] |
| /ijkẽtʰ/ | [ɨkɘ̃tʰ] |
| /kij/ | [cij] |
| /tʰiːpʰipʰ/ | [tʰɨːpʰɨpʰ] |
| /ʈɑ̃kɑ̃/ | [ʈɑ̃kɑ̃] |
| /wiː/ | [wiː] |
| /pɑ̃ʈeːkʰ/ | [pɑ̃ʈɘːkʰ] |
| /pẽn/ | [pɘ̃n] |
| /kɑːfe/ | [kɑːfe] |
| /kẽk͡pʰis/ | [kɘ̃k͡pʰɨs] |
| /wɑt/ | [wɑt] |
Generated by Gleb version 0.3.2 / 5.0a with seed 9887421932.