Jeʂtəra phonology

Main article: Jeʂtəra

This page gives an extensive description of Jeʂtəra phonological features.

Consonants

The consonant system distinguishes 22 phonemes, traditionally arranged in the following scheme:

		IPA			Transcription
plosive	ejective	[ṕ]	[ḱ]	[t́]	ṕ	ḱ	t́
	voiceless	[p]	[k]	[t]	p	k	t
	voiced		[g]			g
retroflex		[ʈ]	[ʂ]	[ɳ]	ʈ	ʂ	ɳ
nasal		[m]		[n]	m		n
liquid		[r]		[l]	r		l
fricative	velar		[x]			x
	sibilant		[s]			s
	labio-dental		[f]			f
	dental		[ð]			ð
	glottal	[ʔ]		[h]	ʔ		h
	approximant	[j]		[w]	j		w

The group of the plosive consonants distinguishes three sub-groups: ejective, voiceless, and voiced, even though the voiced sub-group includes only the phoneme [g].

The presence of a well developed group of retroflex consonants is noteworthy. The groups of the nasal and of the liquid consonants are slighty poorer, but anyway quite developed.

The group of the fricative consonants is overall well developed and rich in points of articulation. The glottal consonant, [ʔ], while formally a plosive, is traditionally included in the fricative group. The phonemes [j] and [w] can have both a semivocalic and a full consonantal value.

Vowels

There are 6 vocalic phonemes, which display other forms of distinction.

4 vowels have a short form and a long form.

The mid-central phoneme, [ə], makes no distinction in length, while the vowel [uː] is only long.

IPA						Transcription
[i]	[iː]				[uː]	i	ī				ū
[e]	[eː]			[o]	[oː]	e	ē			o	ō
		[ə]						ə
		[a]	[aː]					a	ā