Consonant Inventories WALS |
Large |
21 short consonants
bdfgjklmnprstvxzðþŋšž
The short consonants come in breathy/aspirated and normal versions, and may be geminated, for a total of 21*2*2: 84 consonants
1 ungeminatable short consonant
h
1 long consonant
ř
WALS doesn't mention geminated consonants at all, so assume a total of 44 consonants
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Vowel Quality Inventories WALS |
Average (5-6) |
6 short vowels
- i y ʉ u
- e
- ɑ
6 long vowels
- i:y: ʉ: u:
- e:
- ɑ:
25 attested diphthongs (grave = falling, acute = rising)
aà aá aì aò aó aỳ
eà eá eì eò eỳ
ià iá
oá oé oì oò
uá uì uí
yá yè yé yó yú
Geminated consonants can also act as syllable nuclei.
WALS counts this as 6 vowel qualities
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Consonant-Vowel Ratio WALS |
High |
44 / 6 = 7 1/3, "high" according to WALS
|
Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives WALS |
In both plosives and fricatives |
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems WALS |
None missing in /p t k b d g/ |
Uvular Consonants WALS |
None |
Glottalized Consonants WALS |
No glottalized consonants |
Lateral Consonants WALS |
/l/, no obstruent laterals |
The Velar Nasal WALS |
Initial velar nasal |
Vowel Nasalization WALS |
Contrast absent |
Front Rounded Vowels WALS |
High only |
Syllable Structure WALS |
Moderately complex |
CCVC, with strict rules for medial clusters:
CCVC + CCVC → CCVCCVC
|
Tone WALS |
Simple tone system |
Fixed Stress Locations WALS |
No fixed stress |
Weight-Sensitive Stress WALS |
Right-oriented: One of the last three |
Penultimate if no heavy syllables, else leftmost heavy syllable. It is common for affixes to not affect stress, regardless of syllable-weight in the affix.
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Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress Systems WALS |
Combined |
Rhythm Types WALS |
No rhythmic stress |
Absence of Common Consonants WALS |
All present |
Presence of Uncommon Consonants WALS |
'Th' sounds |
Both voiced, written {ð}, and unvoiced, written {þ}, are phonemic.
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