Proto-Saːkdi phonology

Main article: Proto-Saːkdi

This page gives an extensive description of Proto-Saːkdi phonological features.

Consonants

The consonant system distinguishes 24 phonemes, traditionally arranged in the following scheme:

		IPA			Transcription
plosive	voiceless	[p]	[k]	[t]	p	k	t
	voiced	[b]	[g]	[d]	b	g	d
	retroflex	[ʈ]		[ɖ]	ʈ		ɖ
	pharyngeal		[ʡ]			ʡ
	uvular		[q]			q
nasal		[m]		[n]	m		n
		[ɴ]		[ŋ]	ɴ		ŋ
liquid		[r]		[l]	r		l
fricative	sibilant	[s]		[z]	s		z
	retroflex	[ʂ]		[ʐ]	ʂ		ʐ
	pharyngeal		[ħ]			ħ
	glottal		[h]			h
approximant		[j]		[w]	j		w

The group of the plosive consonants is essentially rich and balanced, and distinguishes five sub-groups: voiceless, voiced, retroflex, pharyngeal and uvular, even though the latter two sub-group includes only one phoneme each.

The group of the liquid consonants is substantially poorer, while the group of the nasal consonant is noticeably rich in points of articulation.

The group of the fricative consonants is overall scarce, both in the amount of phonemes and in points of articulation, with some distinctions between voiced and voiceless phonemes.

There is no affricate consonant. The phonemes [j] and [w] can have both a semivocalic and a full consonantal value.

Vowels

There are 8 vocalic phonemes, which display other forms of distinction.

IPA				Transcription
front		back		front		back
[i]	[iː]	[u]	[uː]	i	iː	u	uː
[e]	[eː]	[o]	[oː]	e	eː	o	oː
[ɛ]	[ɛː]	[o]	[oː]	ɛ	ɛː	ɔ	oː
[a]	[aː]	[ɑ]	[ɑː]	a	aː	ɑ	ɑː

Every vowel has a short form and a long form.

Moreover, all vowels make a primary distinction in backness, being divided in two groups: front vowels and back vowels. This distinction is relevant in the process of vowel harmony between the root and some of the derivational affixes.

All long vowels have an additional tonal feature, being every of them pronounced with an ascending tone. This feature, however, is not distinctive.