Phonemic inventory

Syllable structure

(C₁)V(C₂)

C₁: a consonant
V: a vowel
C₂: one of /m n ŋ ʔ ɓ ɗ/

Allophony

• Non-glottalised non-glottal fricative obstruents [^mp p ɓ ...] persistently assimilate in voice to a preceding obstruent. After a voiceless consonant other than [ʔ], implosives become non-implosive.
• Nasals [m n ŋ] become nasals and assimilate in place of articulation to a following obstruent or nasal.
• [ɱ ^mb ⁿd ^ŋg b g ɓ ɗ] become fricatives between a vowel or semivowel and a vowel or semivowel. [ɱ ⁿd g] become [m d ]; prenasalised stops become non-prenasalised; implosives become resonants.
• Non-front vowels [u ɔ a ...] become front [y œ æ ...] before a non-retroflexed alveolar consonant.
• Consonants other than [w], i.e. [m ^ŋg ɓ ...], become rounded [mʷ ^ŋgʷ ɓʷ ...] before a rounded semivowel. [j] become [w].
• Unrounded velar stops or nasals [ŋ ^ŋkʼ k ...] persistently become non-velar [ŋ̟ ^ŋkʼ̟ k̟ ...] before a non-retroflexed alveolar consonant.
• Consonants [m ^ŋkʷ ʔ ...] persistently assimilate in voice to a preceding consonant other than a resonant. After a voiced obstruent or nasal, ejective consonants other than [ʔʷ] become implosives; [ʔʷ] become [w]. After a voiceless consonant, nasals become non-nasal; [ⁿɗ̰ ⁿɗ̰ʷ ɓ ɓʷ ɗ ɗ̰ ɗʷ ɗ̰ʷ] become [ⁿtʼ ⁿtʼʷ p pʷ t tʼ tʷ tʼʷ]; bilabial creaky-voiced implosives become glottal stops; [ɱ ɱʷ] become [^mp ^mpʷ].
• Prenasalised voiced stops [^mb ^ŋg̟ ⁿɗ̰ ...] become nasals [m ŋ̟ ɗ ...] before an obstruent or nasal. Implosives become non-glottalised non-nasal.
• Non-nasal vowels and semivowels [j̥ y œː ...] become nasal [^ɲc ỹ œː̃ ...] before a nasal phone. Semivowels become nasals; voiceless semivowels become stops.
• Non-ejective voiced vowels and non-glottal stop voiced consonants other than fricatives [m gʷ uː ...] persistently become creaky-voiced [ɓ ɠ̰ʷ uː̰ ...] after a creaky-voiced implosive. Non-implosive stops become implosives; nasals become non-glottalised non-nasal; resonants become non-glottalised obstruents or nasals; labiodental nasals become bilabial.
• Non-implosive stops [^mp ^ŋg̟ d ...] persistently assimilate in glottalisation to a preceding non-nasal consonant other than a resonant. After a glottalised consonant, voiced stops become implosives; bilabial voiceless stops become glottal stops.
• Non-pharyngeal non-palatal consonants other than velar rounded consonants [m ⁿɗ̰ ɗ̰ ...] become front [mʲ ⁿɗ̰ʲ ɗ̰ʲ ...] before a palatal consonant.
• Non-back vowels and non-velarised semivowels [j̥ yː̃ œː̰̃ ...] assimilate in frontness or palatalisation to a preceding non-labial semivowel. After one of [w̥ w], semivowels are deleted.
• Consonants [m ⁿɗ̰ʲ ɗ̰ʲ ...] persistently assimilate in voice to a following obstruent or nasal and become voiceless word-finally. Before a voiceless obstruent or pause, [ⁿɗ̰ ⁿɗ̰ʷ ⁿɗ̰ʲ ⁿɗ̰ʲʷ ^ɲʄ̰ ^ŋɠ̰̟ ^ŋɠ̰ ^ŋɠ̰ʷ ɓ ɓʷ ɓʲ ɓʲʷ ɗ ɗ̰ ɗʷ ɗ̰ʷ ɗʲ ɗ̰ʲ ɗʲʷ ɗ̰ʲʷ ʄ ʄ̰ ɠ̟ ɠ̰̟ ɠ ɠ̰ ɠʷ ɠ̰ʷ] become [ⁿtʼ ⁿtʼʷ ⁿtʼʲ ⁿtʼʲʷ ^ɲcʼ ^ŋkʼ̟ ^ŋkʼ ^ŋkʼʷ p pʷ pʲ pʲʷ t tʼ tʷ tʼʷ tʲ tʼʲ tʲʷ tʼʲʷ c cʼ k̟ kʼ̟ k kʼ kʷ kʼʷ]; nasals become non-nasal; bilabial creaky-voiced implosives become glottal stops; labiodental obstruents or nasals other than obstruents become bilabial. Before a voiced obstruent or nasal, glottalised consonants other than implosives or [ʔʷ ʔʲ ʔʲʷ] become implosives; [ʔʷ ʔʲ ʔʲʷ] become [w j w].
• Labial consonants [m p ɸʲ ...] persistently assimilate in labiodentality to a following labial consonant.
• Short glottal stops [ʔ ʔʷ ʔʲ ʔʲʷ] are persistently deleted between a vowel or semivowel and a vowel or semivowel.
• Short non-nasal voiced phones other than non-near-high vowels or high creaky-voiced vowels [^mb b̪ʷ ɠ̟ ...] become voiceless [^mp p̪ʷ k̟ ...] after a voiceless consonant or word-initially word-finally. [ⁿɗ̰ ⁿɗ̰ʷ ⁿɗ̰ʲ ⁿɗ̰ʲʷ ^ɲʄ̰ ^ŋɠ̰̟ ^ŋɠ̰ ^ŋɠ̰ʷ ɓ ɓʷ ɓʲ ɓʲʷ ɓ̪ ɓ̪ʷ ɓ̪ʲ ɓ̪ʲʷ ɗ ɗ̰ ɗʷ ɗ̰ʷ ɗʲ ɗ̰ʲ ɗʲʷ ɗ̰ʲʷ ʄ ʄ̰ ɠ̟ ɠ̰̟ ɠ ɠ̰ ɠʷ ɠ̰ʷ] become [ⁿtʼ ⁿtʼʷ ⁿtʼʲ ⁿtʼʲʷ ^ɲcʼ ^ŋkʼ̟ ^ŋkʼ ^ŋkʼʷ p pʷ pʲ pʲʷ p̪ p̪ʷ p̪ʲ p̪ʲʷ t tʼ tʷ tʼʷ tʲ tʼʲ tʲʷ tʼʲʷ c cʼ k̟ kʼ̟ k kʼ kʷ kʼʷ]; labial creaky-voiced implosives become glottal stops.
• Palatal semivowels [j̥ j] become velar rounded [w̥ w] after a rounded vowel or semivowel.

Some words

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