Höśikə phonology

Main article: Höśikə

This page gives an extensive description of Höśikə phonological features.

Consonants

The consonant system distinguishes 30 phonemes, traditionally arranged in the following scheme:

		IPA			Transcription
plosive	voiceless	[p]	[k]	[t]	p	k	t
	voiced	[b]	[g]	[d]	b	g	d
	palatal		[c]			c
	uvular		[q]			q
nasal		[m]	[n]	[ɲ]	m	n	ň
liquid		[r]	[l]	[ʎ]	r	l	ʎ
fricative	sibilant	[s]		[z]	s		z
	bilabial		[β]			β
	dental		[ð]			ð
	labio-dental		[v]			v
	velar		[ɣ]			ɣ
	alveolar	[ʃ]		[ʒ]	š		ž
	palatal		[ç]			ç
	post-alveolar		[ɕ]			ś
	glottal		[h]			h
	pharyngeal	[ħ]		[ʕ]	ħ		h́
affricate		[ʦ]		[ʧ]	ts		č
approximant			[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 and of the liquid consonants are slighty poorer, but anyway quite developed. The phoneme [j] can have both a semivocalic and a full consonantal value.

Vowels

There are 11 vocalic phonemes. Each vowel makes a distinction in nasalization, displaying both a non-nasal and a nasal version.

IPA						Transcription
[i]	[ĩ]	[ɨ]	[ɨ̃]	[u]	[ũ]	i	ĩ	y	ỹ	u	ũ
	[ø]	[ø̃]	[y]	[ỹ]			ö̃	ö̃	ü	ü̃
[e]	[ẽ]			[o]	[õ]	o	õ			o	õ
		[ə]	[ə̃]					ə	ə̃
[ɛ]	[ɛ̃]					ɛ	ɛ̃
	[æ]	[æ̃]					ä	ä̃
		[a]	[ã]					a	ã

The opposition in nasalization is fully distinctive:

büka - bükã
person - people