Talbas phonology

Contents

Phoneme inventory

LabialAlveolarPalatalVelarUvularGlottal
Nasal/m/ 〈m〉/n/ 〈n〉 audio
PlosiveVoiced/b/ 〈b〉/d/ 〈d〉 audio
Plain/p/ 〈p〉/t/ 〈t〉/k/ 〈k〉/q/ 〈q〉/ʔ/ 〈'〉 audio
Ejective/tʼ/ 〈t'〉/kʼ/ 〈k'〉/qʼ/ 〈q'〉 audio
Affricate/ts/ 〈ts〉 audio
Fricative/s/ 〈s〉 audio
Approximant/l/ 〈l〉/j/ 〈y〉 audio
/i/ 〈i〉 audio
/e/ 〈e〉/o/ 〈o〉
/a/ 〈a〉

Phonotactics

Syllable structure: C(C)V(C)

Possible syllable-initial clusters: py, ty, ky, sy, pl, tl, kl, ql, sl. Consonant clusters and ejectives can only occur at the beginnings of words.

Possible syllable-final sounds: y, n, l, s. n assimilates with following nasals and plosives; for labials in the middle of words, this is indicated in the romanization; n is [n] before other sounds and utterance-finally. Geminate consonants are possible, and distinct from non-geminates. Within words, a glottal stop can't follow a syllable-final consonant, and a voiced stop can't follow /s/.

/a/ and /e/ are not distinguished after q and q'.

i and y can't be in the same syllable (but things like 'iye are okay).

Stress goes on the first syllable.

Allophony

After /q/ and /qʼ/, /a/ and /e/ are pronounced /ɑ/, and /i/ is pronounced /ɯ/  audio . The latter can optionally be distinguished in the romanization by using 〈ı〉 instead of 〈i〉.