Bīṙ phonology

Main article: Bīṙ

This page gives an extensive description of Bīṙ phonological features.

Consonants

The consonant system distinguishes 15 phonemes, traditionally arranged in the following scheme:

		IPA			Transcription
plosive	voiced	[b]	[g]	[d]	b	g	d
	uvular		[q]			q
nasal		[m]		[n]	m		n
liquid		[r]		[l]	r		l
fricative	sibilant	[s]		[z]	s		z
	glottal		[h]			h
	labio-dental		[v]			v
	bilabial		[β]			β
	uvular		[ʁ]			ṙ
affricate			[ʦ]			c

The group of the plosive consonants is quite poor and distinguishes two sub-groups: voiced and uvular, with the uvular sub-group including only the phoneme [q]. It remarkably lacks a group of voiceless consonants.

The group of the nasal and of the liquid consonants are slighty poorer, but anyway quite developed.

The group of the fricative consonants is quite developed and rich in points of articulation, but it displays a limited distinction between voiced and voiceless phonemes.

There is only one affricate phoneme, [ʦ], and a total lack of approximant consonants.

Vowels

There are 10 vocalic phonemes.

IPA						Transcription
[i]	[y]				[u]	ı	y				u
	[e]			[o]			e			o
	[ɛ]	[œ]		[ɔ]			ɛ	œ		ɔ
		[æ]						æ
			[a]						a

Aside from the composite distinction in height, backness and roundness, all vowels are framed in an elaborate tonal system, with multiple tone distinctions. This tonal system is thoroughly described below.

Tones

All vowels clearly display a distinctive feature: the tone.

lɛ̄ - lɛ́ - lɛ̱́
eagle - to say - to cultivate

There are 7 possible tonal distinctions, that can be expressed on every single vowel. These distinctions arise from tone leves and falling or rising features among these leves. The five distinguished tone leves are marked by a numeral sign:

• [V⁵], high level
• [V³], mid level
• [V¹], low level

These levels produce three tones, called linear (as a graphic example of the tones, the vowel [a] is used):

• [V⁵⁵]: ā
• [V³³]: a
• [V¹¹]: a̱

Tones can be expressed by an alteration of the level value. This kind of tones is called uneven tones. If the tone is altered towards an higher level, they are called rising tones, while if the tone is altered towards a lower level, they are called falling tones:

Rising tones:

• [V³⁵]: á
• [V¹³]: á̱

Falling tones:

• [V³¹]: à
• [V⁵³]: ā̀

The incidence of every tone is not homogenous among the words. Some of the tones are considerably less widespread than others. Generally speaking, linear tones more widespread than the uneven tones.