Sound inventory and phonological rules
| Manner | Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | pb | · | td | · | · | kɡ | · | |||||||
| Nasal | m | · | n | · | · | · | · | |||||||
| Fricative | · | fv | sz | · | · | · | h | |||||||
| Affricate | · | · | · | dʒ | · | · | · | |||||||
| Approximant | · | · | ɹ | · | j | w | · | |||||||
| Lateral approximant | · | · | l | · | · | · | · | |||||||
| Height | Front | Central | Back |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | iy | · | u |
| Near-close | ɪ | · | ʊ |
| Close-mid | e | · | o |
| Open-mid | ɛ | · | ɔ |
| Near-open | æ | · | · |
| Open | a | · | ɑ |
(C)(C)V(V)(C)(C)(C)(C)V(V)(C)(C)/t/ → [t̚] / \_# (unreleased at the end of a word) /t/ → [tʰ] / #_V (aspiration word-initially before vowels) /s/ → [z] / V_V (voicing between vowels) /ʃ/ → [ʃ] / everywhere (the “sh” sound stays consistent in all positions) /s/ → [s…i̚] / outside tsu and sh (the i-like sound becomes nearly high-pitched and cuts off abruptly) /i/ → [iː] / #_ (long “ee” vowel with consistently high pitch at the beginning of a word) /i/ → [ɪ] / _n (shifts to the vowel in “in,” with an almost-high pitch) /i/ → [i…] / _y (glides from “ee” toward “ew” and cuts off abruptly) /i/ → [iːt̚] / _t (high-pitched “ee” vowel followed by an abruptly cut-off t)