Sound inventory and phonological rules
| Manner | Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | pb | · | td | · | k | · | · | |||||||
| Nasal | m | · | n | · | · | · | · | |||||||
| Trill | · | · | r | · | · | · | · | |||||||
| Fricative | · | f | sz | ʃ | · | χ | h | |||||||
| Approximant | · | · | · | · | w | · | · | |||||||
| Lateral approximant | · | · | l | · | · | · | · | |||||||
| Height | Front | Central | Back |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | · | u |
| Close-mid | e | · | · |
| Open | a | · | · |
(C)(C)(C)V(C)(C)/k/ → [g] / V_V (intervocalic lenition) /k/ → [k] / elsewhere /p/ → [b] / V_V (intervocalic lenition) /t/ → [d] / V_V (intervocalic lenition) /g/ → [ɣ] / V_V (already voiced, further weakens to fricative) /θ/ → [ð] / V_V (intervocalic lenition) /f/ → [v] / V_V (intervocalic lenition) /s/ → [z] / V (already attested as allophone in some forms) /w/ → [β] / C (post-consonantal labialisation) /r/ → [ɾ] / V_V (intervocalic tap) /r/ → [r] / elsewhere (trill) /i/ → [j] / _V (prevocalic glide) /u/ → [w] / _V (prevocalic glide, already reflected orthographically as intervocalic w) /a/ → [ə] / C_C in unstressed syllable (reduction in unstressed medial position) /n/ → [m] / _p, _b (labial assimilation: cf. amqar-, ampil-) /n/ → [ŋ/ _k, _g (velar assimilation) /n/ → [ɱ] / _f (labiodental assimilation) V → ∅ / C_C in unstressed internal syllable (syncope: accounts for forms such as thruvnu, sparznu, huzrnu) /k/ → [h] / #_V̄ (conditioned by the following requirements: /k/ must be word-initial, immediately followed by a long vowel, the preceding word's first syllable must contain a liquid, the following syllable must not contain: another /k/, an aspiration /h/, a postalveolar fricative /ʃ/, or a velar fricative /χ/)
Distribution of phonemes across 525 transcribed dictionary entries (2,662 total tokens)