Tsimulh languages/Lexicon
Phonology
Consonants
Tsimulh languages/Lexicon changes the voiced series of Proto-Quihum into the aspirated series and loses the velar-uvular distinction in dorsal stops.
Tsimulh languages/Lexicon uses about 30 consonant phonemes. The null initial is pronounced [h]. Two vowels that come in hiatus with each other may be separated by [ɦ].
| Consonants | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labial | Coronal | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||||
| central | lateral | plain | labialized | plain | labialized | ||||
| Nasal | m | n | |||||||
| Plosive | tenuis | p | t | k | kʷ | ʔ | ʔʷ | ||
| breathy voiced | bʰ | dʰ | (gʰ) | gʷʰ | |||||
| ejective | pʼ | tʼ | kʼ | kʷʼ | |||||
| Fricative | s | ł | ś | [h~ɦ] | |||||
| Affricate | tenuis | c | ƛ | ć | |||||
| breathy voiced | ʒʰ | λʰ | ʒ́ʰ | ||||||
| ejective | cʼ | ƛʼ | ćʼ | ||||||
| Approximant | l | y | w | ||||||
- Notes
- g /kʰ/ is quite rare.
Phonotactics
A word may not end in a consonant cluster; usually an epenthetic vowel i is inserted to resolve a consonant cluster. Word-final aspirated plosives are also disallowed.
Word-initial b, p or ph is only found in loanwords - in word initial position these phonemes were converted respectively to u /w/, u /w/ and hu /ʔʷ/.
Vowels
Tsimulh languages/Lexicon has five short and long monophthongs. There are no diphthongs.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i /i/ ī /iː/ | u /u/ ū /uː/ | |
| Mid | e /e/ ē /eː/ | o /o/ ō /oː/ | |
| Open | a /a/ ā /aː/ |
Stress
Tsimulh languages/Lexicon has penultimate stress like Classical Nahuatl.