Sound inventory and phonological rules
| Manner | Bilabial | Labiodental | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal | Glottal | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | b | · | · | t | · | kg | q | · | ʔ | |||||||||
| Nasal | m | · | · | n | · | · | · | · | · | |||||||||
| Trill | ʙ | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | |||||||||
| Tap/Flap | · | · | · | ɾ | ɽ | · | · | · | · | |||||||||
| Fricative | · | fv | ð | · | · | · | · | ʕ | · | |||||||||
| Approximant | · | · | · | ɹ | · | · | · | · | · | |||||||||
| Lateral approximant | · | · | · | l | · | · | · | · | · | |||||||||
| Height | Front | Central | Back |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ʉ | · |
| Near-close | ʏ | · | · |
| Close-mid | · | · | o |
| Open-mid | · | · | ɔ |
| Open | a | · | ɑ |
(C)V(C) - Native roots are predominantly (C)V(C), with no lexical word-initial clusters. Derived forms, compounds, and loans may create limited internal clusters across morpheme boundaries, most commonly in (C)VC.CV and (C)V(C)CVC shapes.word-initial phonemes (allowed)
ʔ q b t k g f v ð ʕ m l ɾ ɹ ɽ ʙ
word-middle phonemes (allowed)
ʔ q b t k g f v ð ʕ m n l ɾ ɹ ɽ ʙ
word-middle / cluster sequences (allowed)
qʕ kv qv fq vq ɾq ɽq
word-final phonemes (allowed)
q k g ʔ f v ð m l ɾ ɹ ɽ
Note: while /n/ is phonemic, it is rare and is generally restricted to word-medial position in native roots. Word-final /n/ is tolerated mainly in loans, compounds, and careful foreign-name adaptation.
illegal word-initial phonemes
n p d s z ʃ ʒ h w j ŋ x χ ɣ ç ʝ t͡s d͡z t͡ʃ d͡ʒ
illegal word-middle phonemes (native vocabulary)
p s z ʃ ʒ h w ŋ ç ʝ t͡s d͡z t͡ʃ d͡ʒ
illegal word-initial clusters
All native word-initial clusters are disallowed.
illegal word-middle / cluster sequences
pp bb tt dd ss zz ʃʃ ʒʒ ww hh ŋŋ
sp st sk sm sn sl sr
ps pt pk ks kt
rq rl rm
ʔʔ qqʕ qʕq
No geminates; no sibilant-led clusters; no stop-stop clusters except across compound boundaries; no clusters containing phonemic /ŋ/, /w/, or /h/.
illegal word-final phonemes
b t d ʕ ʙ n p s z ʃ ʒ h w j ŋ x χ ɣ ç ʝ t͡s d͡z t͡ʃ d͡ʒ
non-native/illegal vowels
ə e u y ø œ ɨ ɯ æ ɪ ʊ
Note:
Non-native vowels in loans are nativized to the nearest Kafqo vowel, most commonly with /ə/ > /ʏ/ or /a/, /u/ > /ʉ/, /e/ > /ʏ/, and front rounded donor vowels > /ʏ/.
allophony & sound rules
For the Allophony & Sound Rules box, use this:
/t/ -> [tʰ] / #_V
/v/ -> [β] / V_V
/ɾ/ -> [ɽ] / {o,ɔ,a}_ or _{q,ʕ}
/n/ -> [ŋ] / _{k,g,q}
/ʔ/ -> [∅] / V_V (rapid speech)
/q/ -> [q̟] / _{i,ʏ}
/ʏ/ -> [ʉ̞] / after {q,ʕ,ɽ} in careful or high-register speech