Phonology
| Letter | IPA | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
The word boundary marker ’ is usually realized as a pause. However before a vowel-initial word (borrowings, freeform variables and compounds) it can be realized as a glottal stop [ʔ] instead.
Consecutive vowels are separated by hiatuses, but glides like [j] and [w] are allowed respectively alongside or instead of [i] and [u].
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.
Example
Sentence : aa za umia tsae eberban Pronounciation : [ʔa za ʔumi.a tsa.e ʔeberban]