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].
• Vowels and semivowels other than [w], i.e. [j ũ ɔː ...], assimilate in frontness or palatalisation to a preceding consonant. After a consonant other than [j], [j] are deleted.
• Consonants [m ^ŋgʷ ɓ ...] persistently assimilate in voice to a preceding consonant other than a resonant. 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]. After a voiced obstruent or nasal, non-implosive ejective stops become implosives; [ʔ ʔʷ] become [ w].
• Prenasalised voiced stops [^mb ^ŋg ⁿɗ̰ ...] become nasals [m ŋ ɗ ...] before an obstruent or nasal. Creaky-voiced implosives become non-glottalised non-nasal.
• Non-ejective voiced vowels and non-glottal stop voiced consonants [m v uː̃ ...] become creaky-voiced [ɓ β̞ ṵː̃ ...] after a creaky-voiced implosive. Non-implosive stops become implosives; nasals become non-glottalised non-nasal; resonants become non-glottalised obstruents or nasals; fricatives become non-glottalised resonants; labiodental obstruents or nasals become bilabial.
• Central vowels [ɨ ʉ̰̃ ɞː ...] persistently become front [i ỹ̰ œː ...] after a palatal consonant.
• Back vowels [u ṵ̃ ɔː ...] become central [ʉ ʉ̰̃ ɞː ...] before a palatal semivowel.
• Non-pharyngeal non-palatal consonants other than velar rounded consonants [m ⁿɗ̰ʷ ɗʷ ...] become front [mʲ ⁿɗ̰ʷʲ ɗʷʲ ...] before a palatal consonant.
• Consonants [m ⁿɗ̰ʷʲ ɗʷʲ ...] persistently assimilate in voice to a following obstruent or nasal and become voiceless word-finally. Before a voiceless obstruent or pause, [ⁿɗ̰ ⁿɗ̰ʷ ⁿɗ̰ʲ ⁿɗ̰ʷʲ ^ɲʄ̰ ^ŋɠ̰ ^ŋɠ̰ʷ ɓ ɓʷ ɓʲ ɓʷʲ ɗ ɗ̰ ɗʷ ɗ̰ʷ ɗʲ ɗ̰ʲ ɗʷʲ ɗ̰ʷʲ ʄ ʄ̰ ɠ ɠ̰ ɠʷ ɠ̰ʷ] become [ⁿtʼ ⁿtʼʷ ⁿtʼʲ ⁿtʼʷʲ ^ɲcʼ ^ŋkʼ ^ŋkʼʷ p pʷ pʲ pʷʲ t tʼ tʷ tʼʷ tʲ tʼʲ tʷʲ tʼʷʲ c cʼ 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 ʔʷʲ] become implosives; [ʔʷ ʔʲ ʔʷʲ] become [w j w].
• Obstruents other than [ɸ ɸʷ ɸʲ ɸʷʲ f fʷ fʲ fʷʲ s sʷ sʲ sʷʲ], i.e. [^mp ⁿɗ̰ʷ gʷ ...], assimilate in glottalisation to a following non-nasal consonant other than a resonant. Before a glottalised consonant, obstruents other than stops become non-glottalised; non-glottalised non-implosive voiced stops become implosives; obstruents other than stops become resonants; bilabial voiceless stops become glottal stops; labiodental fricatives become bilabial.
• Labial consonants [m ^mɓ̰ʲ ɸʷ ...] persistently assimilate in labiodentality to a following labial consonant.
• Obstruents [^mp ^ɱɓ̰ʷʲ ɓ̰ ...] persistently assimilate in voice to a following consonant other than a resonant. Before a voiceless consonant other than a resonant, [^mɓ ^mɓʷ ^mɓʲ ^mɓʷʲ ^ɱɓ ^ɱɓʷ ^ɱɓʲ ^ɱɓʷʲ ⁿɗ ⁿɗ̰ ⁿɗʷ ⁿɗ̰ʷ ⁿɗʲ ⁿɗ̰ʲ ⁿɗʷʲ ⁿɗ̰ʷʲ ^ɲʄ ^ɲʄ̰ ^ŋɠ ^ŋɠ̰ ^ŋɠʷ ^ŋɠ̰ʷ ɓ ɓʷ ɓʲ ɓʷʲ ɓ̪ ɓʷ̪ ɓʲ̪ ɓʷʲ̪ ɗ ɗ̰ ɗʷ ɗ̰ʷ ɗʲ ɗ̰ʲ ɗʷʲ ɗ̰ʷʲ ʄ ʄ̰ ɠ ɠ̰ ɠʷ ɠ̰ʷ] become [^mp ^mpʷ ^mpʲ ^mpʷʲ ^ɱp ^ɱpʷ ^ɱpʲ ^ɱpʷʲ ⁿt ⁿtʼ ⁿtʷ ⁿtʼʷ ⁿtʲ ⁿtʼʲ ⁿtʷʲ ⁿtʼʷʲ ^ɲc ^ɲcʼ ^ŋk ^ŋkʼ ^ŋkʷ ^ŋkʼʷ p pʷ pʲ pʷʲ p̪ pʷ̪ pʲ̪ pʷʲ̪ t tʼ tʷ tʼʷ tʲ tʼʲ tʷʲ tʼʷʲ c cʼ k kʼ kʷ kʼʷ]; labial creaky-voiced implosives become glottal stops. Before a voiced obstruent or nasal, non-implosive ejective stops become implosives.
• Non-pharyngeal non-front consonants other than velar rounded consonants [m ^ɱɓ̰ʷ ɓʷ̪ ...] become front [mʲ ^ɱɓ̰ʷʲ ɓʷʲ̪ ...] after a front consonant except a semivowel.
• Non-ejective voiced vowels and non-glottal stop voiced semivowels [j ʉ̃ ɜː̃ ...] become creaky-voiced [ʄ ʉ̰̃ ɜ̰ː̃ ...] before a glottalised phone. Semivowels become non-glottalised stops or nasals.
• Short voiced phones other than lax vowels or tense creaky-voiced vowels [m ⁿɗ̰ ɗ̰ʷ ...] become voiceless [^mp ⁿtʼ tʼʷ ...] between a voiceless consonant or word-initially and a voiceless consonant. [^mɓ ^mɓʷ ^mɓʲ ^mɓʷʲ ^ɱɓ ^ɱɓʷ ^ɱɓʲ ^ɱɓʷʲ ⁿɗ ⁿɗ̰ ⁿɗʷ ⁿɗ̰ʷ ⁿɗʲ ⁿɗ̰ʲ ⁿɗʷʲ ⁿɗ̰ʷʲ ^ɲʄ ^ɲʄ̰ ^ŋɠ ^ŋɠ̰ ^ŋɠʷ ^ŋɠ̰ʷ ɓ ɓʷ ɓʲ ɓʷʲ ɓ̪ ɓʷ̪ ɓʲ̪ ɓʷʲ̪ ɗ ɗ̰ ɗʷ ɗ̰ʷ ɗʲ ɗ̰ʲ ɗʷʲ ɗ̰ʷʲ ʄ ʄ̰ ɠ ɠ̰ ɠʷ ɠ̰ʷ] become [^mp ^mpʷ ^mpʲ ^mpʷʲ ^ɱp ^ɱpʷ ^ɱpʲ ^ɱpʷʲ ⁿt ⁿtʼ ⁿtʷ ⁿtʼʷ ⁿtʲ ⁿtʼʲ ⁿtʷʲ ⁿtʼʷʲ ^ɲc ^ɲcʼ ^ŋk ^ŋkʼ ^ŋkʷ ^ŋkʼʷ p pʷ pʲ pʷʲ p̪ pʷ̪ pʲ̪ pʷʲ̪ t tʼ tʷ tʼʷ tʲ tʼʲ tʷʲ tʼʷʲ c cʼ k kʼ kʷ kʼʷ]; labial creaky-voiced implosives become glottal stops; nasals become non-nasal; labiodental nasals become bilabial.

Some words

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