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.