Phonology
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Tones
According to Blench (2013), high and low tones are phonemic, while mid tones are likely only phonetic, and rising and falling tones appear as a consequence of sequences.
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ɨ ɨː | u |
| Close-mid | e eː | ə | o |
| Open | a aː |
According to Blench (2013), [ɯ] appears in a few example words but is likely not phonemic.
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal (–alveolar) |
Velar | Labial–velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Implosive | ɓ | ɗ | ||||||
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | kp | ʔ | ||
| voiced | b | d | ɡ | (ɡb) | ɢ | |||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | h | |||
| voiced | v | z | ʒ | (ɣ) | ||||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||||
| Approximant | l | j | w | |||||
| Rhotic | r | |||||||
According to Blench (2013):
- There is likely no phonemic contrast between the voiced uvular plosive [ɢ] and voiced velar fricative [ɣ]. The uvular is the orthographic choice.
- The voiced labial–velar plosive [ɡb] is not clearly articulated and appears to be in free variation with the bilabial implosive [ɓ].
- A voiceless dental fricative [θ] appears in a single Jukunoid loan [tìp θɨ́k] to bathe.
Also according to Blench (2013), initial consonants may be appear with the following secondary articulation or clusters:
- /b ɓ m f v t d j k ɡ/ may be labialized /Cʷ/.
- /k ʃ/ may be palatalized /Cʲ/. Blench groups these with /ɲ/ and calls them palatal consonants; it is not clear from this description if they therefore are realized as palatal released [kʲ ʃʲ] or are true palatal allophones [c ɕ].
- A single case of a labiopalatalized consonant exists in the word [ɡᶣàm] chin. If analyzed instead as an allophonic palatal [ɟ], this would be [ɟʷàm].
- /p b t d k ɡ ɡb/ may appear in rhotic clusters /Cr/.
- /p f t d k/ may appear in lateral clusters /Cl/.
Blench (2013) notes an example of a "problematic sound" from a single word [vʷu] black, which has been reported to have the lower lip vibrating during the fricative. Blench suggests this is likely related to the labiodental flap /ⱱ/ found elsewhere in the region, but notes that more examples are required to determine its status.
