Xowʂiko phonology

Main article: Xowʂiko

This page gives an extensive description of Xowʂiko phonological features.

Consonants

The consonant system distinguishes 28 phonemes, traditionally arranged in the following scheme:

		IPA			Transcription
plosive	voiceless	[p]	[k]	[t]	p	k	t
	voiced		[b]			b
	palatal		[c]			c
	uvular		[q]			q
retroflex		[ʈ]	[ʂ]	[ɳ]	ʈ	ʂ	ɳ
nasal		[m]		[n]	m		n
liquid	rhotic	[r]		[ʀ]	r		ŕ
	lateral	[l]		[ʎ]	l		ʎ
fricative	sibilant		[s]			s
	bilabial		[β]			β
	dental		[ð]			ð
	velar	[x]		[ɣ]	x		ɣ
	alveolar	[ʃ]		[ʒ]	š		ž
	palatal		[ç]			ç
	post-alveolar		[ɕ]			ś
	glottal		[h]			h
approximant		[j]		[w]	j		w
affricate			[ʧ]			č

The group of the plosive consonants distinguishes four sub-groups: voiceless, voiced, palatal, and uvular.

The group of the fricative consonants is overall well developed and rich in points of articulation, with a limited distinction between voiced and voiceless phonemes.

The groups of the nasal, of the liquid and of the retroflex consonants are slighty poorer, but anyway quite developed. The phonemes [j] and [w] can have both a semivocalic and a full consonantal value.

Vowels

There are 7 vocalic phonemes. No vowel makes any distinction either in length or in tone:

IPA					Transcription
[i]		[ɨ]		[u]	i		y		u
[e]				[o]	e				o
	[æ]					ä
		[a]					a