Viwdiwgu phonology

Main article: Viwdiwgu

This page gives an extensive description of Viwdiwgu phonological features.

Consonants

The consonant system distinguishes 27 phonemes, traditionally arranged in the following scheme:

		IPA			Transcription
plosive	voiceless	[p]	[k]	[t]	p	k	t
	voiced	[g]		[d]	g		d
	palatal	[c]		[ɟ]	c		ǧ
nasal		[m]	[n]	[ɲ]	m	n	ň
liquid		[r]		[l]	r		l
fricative	velar	[x]		[ɣ]	x		ɣ
	sibilant	[s]		[z]	s		z
	alveolar	[ʃ]		[ʒ]	š		ž
	glottal		[v]			v
	glottal		[h]			h
	palatal	[ç]		[ɕ]	ç		ɕ
	approximant	[j]		[w]	j		w
affricate		[ʧ]	[ʦ]	[ʝ]	č	ts	ʝ

The group of the plosive consonants distinguishes three sub-groups: voiceless, voiced, and palatal, where only the voiceless subgroup distinguishes three points of articulation.

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, with a widespread distinction between voiced and voiceless phonemes. The phonemes [j] and [w] can have both a semivocalic and a full consonantal value. The group of the affricate consonants is remarkably developed.

Vowels

There are 9 vocalic phonemes, which display other forms of distinction:

IPA						Transcription
[i]	[iː]			[u]	[uː]	i	ī			u	ū
[ʏ]						ü
										ō
[ɛ]	[œ]	[œː]				ɛ	ö	ő
[æ]						ä
		[aː]						ā

3 vowels have a short form and a long form: [i] - [iː], [u] - [uː], and [œ] - [œː]. However, length is not deemed by the speakers as a distinctive feature of the same phoneme. These pairs are regarded as four fully independent phonemes, thus bringing the amount of distinguished vowels to 12.

The vowels [aː] and [oː] are only long. The imbalance between the amount of front and back vowels is easily noticeable.