Ucrean

Phonology

Consonants

		Dentolabial	Linguolabial	Alveolar		Palatal	Velar	Guttural
				plain	lateral
Nasal		m		n		(ɲ)	ŋ
Stop	lenis	b	ȸ	d			g	(ʔ)
	voiceless	p	ȹ	t			k	q
	ejective	pʰʼ	ȹʼ	tʼ			kʼ	qʼ
Affricate	voiceless			t͡s	t͡ɬ	t͡ɕ
	ejective			t͡sʼ	t͡ɬʼ	t͡ɕʼ
Fricative	voiced	v͆	ð̼	z	ɮ	ʑ		ʁ
	voiceless	f͆	θ̼	s	ɬ	ɕ	x	χ~ʜ
Approximant		ʋ͆~w		r	ɫ	j		h
Click		ʘ		ǃ	ǁ

Vowels

There are two main schools of thought about Ucrean's underlying vowel inventory:

	Front		Central	Back
	unrounded	rounded
Close	i	(ø~y)	(ə)	u
Open	ɛ~ɨ		a	(o)

The first (detailed above) supposes Ucrean has a fairly standard system of 4-6 oral vowels and 4-6 syllabic consonants (in some analyses sequences of Cə or əC), being /r̩, n̩, r̩ʲ, ɲ̩/, and sometimes /ɫ̩~o & ʎ̩~ɥ̩~ø/, with the diphthongs /ɛa/ [ɨæ] and /øa/ [yæ]. This system is often regarded as the most useful when analyzing the phonology of modern Ucrean, specifically the vocalic realizations in practice.

	Short	Long
Close	ɛ̆~ʲə	ɨ~ɛ
Open	ă~ə	a

The second (also above), on the other hand, supposes Ucrean has a vertical vowel system with length distinctions more typical of Caucasian or (by some analyses) Chinese languages, with the syllabic consonants being either underlying sequences of Cə, əC, Cʲə, and ɛ̆C or (less popularly) simply zero-grade, recognizing /i, u, & o/ as vocalic /j, ʋ͆, & ɫ/ respectively. This system is more supported historically & etymologically, given that the palatal alveolars rarely if ever occur outside of preceding an /ɛ/ and as a vowel unto themselves, and do mutate between their plain & palatalized equivalents when stimulated by inflection of their roots.