The vowel inventory is small and essentially vertical, with a three-way height distinction.
- The low vowel is IPA ja (spelled ia) after a palatalized consonant, and IPA a (spelled a) elsewhere.
- The mid vowel is IPA je (spelled ie) after a palatalized consonant, and IPA ɤ (spelled e) elsewhere.
- The high vowel is IPA i (spelled i) after a palatalized consonant, IPA ɨ (also spelled i) after an alveolar or retroflex consonant, and IPA u (spelled u) after a velarized, velar, or uvular consonant.
Here's the consonant inventory, with some POA distinctions collapsed to keep the table tidy:
Code: Select all
pʲ pˠ t ʈʂ tɕ k
ɓʲ ɓˠ ɗ ʛ̥
ts' ʈʂ' tɕ'
s ɕ x
βʲ βˠ ð ɻ ʝ ɣ
mʲ mˠ n
And here are the same consonants in practical orthography.
Code: Select all
p(i) p t tr c(i) c
b(i) b d q
tz tzr q(i)
s x(i) x
v(i) v th r g(i) g
m(i) m n
The most common derivational process by far is compounding, and words longer than three syllables are essentially always compounds. There are two morphophonological processes that can happen in compounds -- triggers TBD. One is gemination: the initial consonant of the second word doubles. The other is lenition: the initial consonant undergoes these changes, which amount to "deglottalize if it's glottalized, fricativize if it's a plain stop":
Code: Select all
ɓʲ > pʲ
ɓˠ > pˠ
ɗ > t
ts' > s
ʈʂ' > ʈʂ
tɕ' > tɕ
ʛ̥ > k
pʲ > βʲ
pˠ > βˠ
t > ð
ʈʂ > ɻ
tɕ > ʝ
k > ɣ