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In stressed syllables the vowel system centers on an opposition between three vowels: /a i u/. These are the only permitted vowels in stressed syllables. In unstressed syllables there is a tendency to de-emphasise the distinctive qualities of the vowel with occasionally extreme coalescence into a schwa /ə/. | In stressed syllables the vowel system centers on an opposition between three vowels: /a i u/. These are the only permitted vowels in stressed syllables. In unstressed syllables there is a tendency to de-emphasise the distinctive qualities of the vowel with occasionally extreme coalescence into a schwa /ə/. | ||
===Consonants=== | ===Consonants=== | ||
GA has a rich system of consonants with articulations ranging from labial to glottal and with a family-specific feature opposition: [-voice], [+voice], [+emphatic]. The nature of the [+emphatic] feature is not clear but it presumably involves some sort of glottalised articulation. | GA has a rich system of consonants with articulations ranging from labial to glottal and with a family-specific feature opposition: [-voice], [+voice], [+emphatic]. The nature of the [+emphatic] feature is not clear but it presumably involves some sort of glottalised articulation. | ||
A series of class-internal exchanges between phonemes in the [+labial] series and those in the [+voice] / [-voice] series suggests that the features did not carry heavy information load initially and were thus easily exchanged. | |||
==Morphology== | ==Morphology== |