Phonemic inventory
Consonants
| | Bilabial-velar | | Bilabial-velar lateral | | Labial | | Alveolar | | Palatoalv. sibilant / palatal | | Velar | | Rounded velar | | Rounded velar lateral | | Glottal |
| Nasal | | | | | | | | m | m̰ | | n | n̰ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Stop | | k͡p | g͡b̰ | | | | | p | b̰ | | t | tʼ | | t͡ʃ | t͡ʃʼ | | k | kʼ | | | | | | | | | ʔ |
| Fricative | | | | | | | | f | | | s | | | ʃ | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Approximant | | | | | ʟ͡β̞ | ʟ͡β̞̰ | | | | | | | | j | j̰ | | ɰ | | | w | w̰ | | ʟʷ | ʟʷ̰ | | | |
Vowels
| | Front | | Back |
| High | | i | ḭ | | u | ṵ |
| Mid-low | | ɛ | ɛ̰ | | ɔ | ɔ̰ |
| Low | | | | | ɑ | ɑ̰ |
Syllable structure
(C1)V(C2)
C1: a consonant
V: a vowel
C2: a consonant
Allophony
- Voiced phones [m j ḭ ...] persistently assimilate in glottalisation to a preceding voiced consonant.
- Alveolar apical stops [t tʼ] become non-affricate and assimilate in place of articulation to a following obstruent or nasal. Word-finally, [t] become [ʔ]. Before a laminal obstruent, stops become affricate sibilants.
- Non-ejective voiced vowels and non-glottal stop voiced consonants [m ʟ͡β̞ i ...] persistently become creaky-voiced [m̰ ʟ͡β̞̰ ḭ ...] before a creaky-voiced consonant.
- Non-sibilant coronal alveolar stops [t tʼ] become affricate sibilants [t͡s t͡sʼ] before a non-nasal coronal fricative.
- Consonants other than [ʔ], i.e. [m b̰ s ...], persistently assimilate in voice to a preceding obstruent or nasal. After a voiced stop or nasal, [f] become [β̞]; [ʃ] become [j]; [s] become [l]. After a voiceless consonant other than [ʔ], non-labial approximants become obstruents; nasals become non-nasal; [ʟ͡β̞̰] become [k͡x͡p͡fʼˡ].
- Bilabial voiced nasals [m m̰] assimilate in resonancy and nasality and vibrancy and laterality to a following bilabial approximant. Before a bilabial approximant lateral, nasals become non-lateral.
- Coronal consonants [n d t͡ʃ ...] persistently assimilate in anteriority and retroflexion to a following one of [s ʃ]. Before [ʃ], non-sibilant coronal stops become affricate sibilants; [l] become [ʎ].
- Non-pharyngeal consonants other than [c cʼ j j̰ ɰ ɰ̰ w w̰], i.e. [m t t͡ʃʼ ...], assimilate in palatalisation to a following consonant. Before a palatal consonant, rounded consonants become non-front.
- Non-sibilant coronal coronal nasals [n nʲ ṉ̺̰ ...] become nasals and assimilate in place of articulation to a following obstruent or nasal.
- Non-pharyngeal velar consonants [ŋ͡m g͡b k͡xʼʷˡ ...] become non-velar non-front [ŋ͡m̟ g͡b̟ k͡xʼʷ̟ˡ ...] before a front vowel or semivowel.
- Labial consonants [ɲ͡m mpʼʲ b̪ ...] persistently assimilate in labiodentality to a following labial consonant.
- Non-glottalised approximants [ʎ͡β̞̥ ʟ͡ʋ̟ j ...] assimilate in voice to a preceding non-nasal consonant other than an approximant. After a voiceless consonant other than an approximant, non-labial non-alveolar approximants become obstruents; non-palatal or velar approximants become obstruents; [ʋ ʋʲ] become [p pʲ].
- Consonants other than [ʔ ʔʲ], i.e. [ɲ͡m g͡b̪̟ d͡ʒ ...], persistently assimilate in voice to a following consonant other than an approximant. Before a voiceless consonant other than an approximant, nasals become non-nasal; palatal or velar voiced approximants other than bilabial consonants or [ʎ͡ʋ ʟ͡ʋ̟ ʟ͡ʋ] become obstruents; non-lateral labiodental sonorants become bilabial; non-palatal or velar approximants become obstruents; non-sibilant coronal palatoalveolar nasals become affricate sibilants; [ʎ͡β̞̰ ʟ͡β̞̟̰ ʟ͡β̞̰] become [c͡ç͡p͡fʼˡ k͡x͡p͡fʼ̟ˡ k͡x͡p͡fʼˡ]. Before a voiced stop or nasal, fricatives become resonants; palatoalveolar fricatives become non-coronal palatal or velar; [ʃ ʃ̺] become [j j]; [f fʲ] become [β̞ β̞ʲ]; [s̻ʲ] become [ɾ̻]; [s] become [l].
- Coronal consonants [n̻ tʲ t͡sʲ ...] persistently assimilate in laminality to a following coronal consonant. Before a laminal consonant, [ɾʲ] become [ɾ̻].
- Obstruents other than [ɸʲ fʲ s̻ʲ sʲ ɕ ɕ̺], i.e. [ɲc͡mp g͡b̪ c͡ç͡p͡ɸʼˡ ...], persistently assimilate in glottalisation to a preceding non-nasal consonant other than a resonant. After a glottalised consonant other than a resonant, obstruents other than stops become non-glottalised; obstruents other than stops become pharyngealised.
- Non-ejective voiced vowels and non-glottal stop voiced resonants [ɾ̻ β̞ʲ w̟ ...] become creaky-voiced [ɾ̻̰ β̞ʲ̰ w̟̰ ...] before a glottal stop.
- High vowels and semivowels [j w̟ w̰ ...] become non-high [e̯ ɵ̯ o̰̯ ...] after a pharyngealised fricative.
- Vowels and semivowels other than fronted rounded semivowels [j ɘ̯ e ...] assimilate in frontness or palatalisation to a preceding mid-high semivowel. After one of [e̯ ḛ̯], rounded semivowels become velar or uvular.
- Unrounded non-low vowels and unrounded semivowels [j ɘ̯ e ...] become rounded [w̟ ɵ̯ ø ...] before a rounded semivowel. Front semivowels become velar or uvular.
- Central vowels and velar or uvular fronted semivowels other than rounded semivowels [ɰ̟ ɨ̰ ɵ ...] persistently become front [j ḭ ø ...] after a front consonant.
Some words
| /ʃi/ | [ʃi] |
| /miʃ/ | [miʃ] |
| /ḭt͡ʃɑ̰f/ | [ḭt͡ʃɑ̰f] |
| /sɑnikʼ/ | [sɑnikʼ] |
| /ɑsʔɑw/ | [ɑsʔɑw] |
| /sɛʔ/ | [sɛ̰ʔ] |
| /ʔɑ/ | [ʔɑ] |
| /nukɑ̰j̰/ | [nukɑ̰j̰] |
| /kḭt͡ʃfi/ | [k̟ḭt͡ʃfi] |
| /fɛʟʷ̰suʃ/ | [fɛ̰k͡xʼʷˡsˤɔʃ] |
| /tissṵf/ | [tissṵf] |
| /jṵsʟʷi/ | [jusk͡xʷ̟ˡi] |
| /wiw̰/ | [w̟yw̰] |
| /jɔ/ | [jɔ] |
| /ʃɑj̰u/ | [ʃɑ̰j̰ṵ] |
| /ɑʟʷɰuʃ/ | [ɑʟʷɰuʃ] |
| /ɛkɑʟʷ/ | [ɛkɑʟʷ] |
| /tiʔ/ | [tḭʔ] |
| /miʃ/ | [miʃ] |
| /kɑwṵ/ | [kɑwu] |
| /sɑw̰n̰ṵw/ | [sɑ̰w̰n̰ṵw] |
| /kis/ | [k̟is] |
| /pḭʟʷfis/ | [pḭk͡xʷˡfis] |
| /nɑg͡b̰ti/ | [nɑg͡b̰d̰ḭ] |
| /sɑ/ | [sɑ] |
| /b̰ɛwj̰ṵ/ | [b̰œ̰w̟ju] |
| /upsɛ̰s/ | [upsɛ̰s] |
| /sɑ/ | [sɑ] |
| /ɰuʃnɛt͡ʃ/ | [ɰuʃ̺ntɛt͡ʃ] |
| /ḭʟʷ̰kɑ/ | [ḭk͡xʼʷˡkʼɑ] |
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