Phonology
| Letter | IPA | Description | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|
| h | [h] | a glottal aspirant | |
| n | [n], [ŋ] | a dental or velar nasal | |
| r | [ɣ] [ʁ] ([r], [ʀ]) | a velar or uvular fricative (alveolar or uvular trills are also accepted) | |
| l | [l] | a lateral approximant | |
| m | [m] | a bilabial nasal | |
| p | [p] | an unvoiced bilabial stop | |
| b | [b] | a voiced bilabial stop | |
| f | [f] | an unvoiced labiodental fricative | |
| v | [v] | a voiced labiodental fricative | |
| t | [t] | an unvoiced dental/alveolar stop | |
| d | [d] | a voiced dental/alveolar stop | |
| s | [s] | an unvoiced alveolar sibilant | |
| z | [z] | a voiced alveolar sibilant | |
| c | [ʃ], [ʂ] | an unvoiced coronal sibilant | |
| j | [ʒ], [ʐ] | a voiced coronal sibilant | |
| k | [k] | an unvoiced velar stop | |
| g | [ɡ] | a voiced velar stop | |
| i | [i] | a front close vowel | |
| e | [ɛ], [e] | a front mid vowel | |
| a | [a], [ɑ] | an open vowel | |
| o | [o], [ɔ] | a back mid vowel | |
| u | [u] | a back close vowel |
At the start of a vowel or sonorant initial word, it is mandatory to
make a pause or utter a glottal stop [ʔ]
Consecutive vowels are separated by hiatuses, but glides like
[j]
Where spaces are allowed, a speaker or writter can express hesitation by using one or more of the letter n surrounded by spaces, which is realized as [n̩].
In speech, the schwa sound [ə] can be used in between consonants of a pair if the speaker has trouble uttering the pair as-is. It has no written equivalent.
Quotation marks [ and ], when used for foreign quotes grammar, are both realized as a palatal click ([ǂ]) which distingly marks the start and end of a quote.
Example
Sentence : a za ualis zue gali spie nnnn ebansa eberban
Pronounciation : [ʔa za ʔualis zue ɡali spie .. ŋː .. ʔebansa ʔeberban]
Big thanks to zuna for the recordings!