Consonants
Consonants are differentiated by manner and place of articulation, and by word-internal gemination. Plosives also have contrasting voice.
labial | alveolar | retroflex | palatal | velar | glottal | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
stop | ||||||
nasal | ||||||
lateral | ||||||
tap | ||||||
fricative |
stops:
labial:
alveolar:
palatal:
velar:
glottal:
voiced:
labial:
alveolar:
palatal:
velar:
nasals:
labial:
alveolar:
velar:
liquids:
alveolar lateral:
retroflex tap:
fricatives:
labial:
alveolar:
palatal:
glottal:
This table shows the consonants phonemically, using the International Phonetic Alphabet. Where it differs from IPA, the transliteration is given in <triangular brackets>.
Capital or geminate glottal stops are transliterated with <ʔ>. Examples:
ba’u — usual word-internal glottal stop
nasiʔu — geminate word-internal glottal stop
’usu — usual glottal stop within sentence
ʔusu — capitalised glottal stop at beginning of sentence
ʔallisi — capitalised glottal stop for proper noun (Alice)
Stops
Stops are differentiated by voicing, although voiced consonants tend to be rarer than their voiceless counterparts.
The voiced stops are fully voiced word-internally and partially voiced word-initially. Voiced geminate stops are given breathy voice. Voiceless stops are lightly aspirated, which is suppressed in voiceless geminate stops.
Geminate stops are held for approximately twice as long as non-geminate stops.
Labials
The plosives
pu’iba
qapi
kuppu
bufi
huba
kibba
Alveolars
The plosives
turassi
-fi’atu
matta
daru
xidu
kuddu
Palatal
The plosives
cissa
xuci
nacca
jagaru
sajimu
majja
Velars
The velar plosives are
ka’u
’isaki
nukki
gurrisu
danagi
saggi
Glottal
The glottal stop
Nasals
There are nasal consonants at each of the places of articulation of the plosives. However, the palatal nasal is only found when geminating the alveolar nasal. Nasals are prototypically voiced. Geminate nasals are held for 1 ½ times as long as non-geminates.
Labial
The labial nasal
Alveolar
The alveolar nasal
Velar
The nasal
Liquids
The liquids are mainly differentiated by laterality. This language lacks phonemic glides. Like nasals, approximants are prototypically voiced, and geminates are held for 1 ½ times as long as non-geminates.
The consonant
The consonant
lassi
kulu
malliju
ru’iha
karafi
qarri
Fricatives
Fricatives do not have complete closure of the vocal tract, but are formed with enough constriction to bring turbulence to the airstream.
Fricatives are prototypically voiceless. The lips remain unrounded for all fricatives unless followed or preceded by a rounded vowel. Geminate fricatives are held for 1 ½ times as long as non-geminates.
Labial
The fricative
Alveolar
The fricative
Palatal
The palatal fricative
Glottal
The fricative