Phonology
Consonants
| Bilabial | Dental | Alveolar | Post Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
|---|
| Plosive | p b | t d | | | | k g | ʔ |
|---|
| Nasal | m | n | | | | | |
|---|
| Fricative | | | s z | ʃ | | ɣ | h |
|---|
| Lateral Fricative | | ɬ | | | | | |
|---|
| Approximant | | | | | j | | |
|---|
| Lateral Approximant | | l | | | | | |
|---|
| Affricate | | tɬ dɮ | | | | | |
|---|
Vowels
>>>
| Front | Back | Diphthongs |
|---|
| Close | i | u | uj |
|---|
| Close-Mid | e | | ej |
|---|
| Open | a | | aj |
|---|
Tones
'Ináwah technically only has two tones (high and neutral), but adjacent, identical vowels with contrasting tones may produce rising or falling tones with long vowel length in lax speech. A high tone is the marked tone and is denoted in romanization by an acute acent above the vowel and by a bar in native orthography.
Phonotactics
Allowed Syllables
- CV(h,j)
- ʕ(syllabic nasal)
Phonological Rules
- nasal > ʕ + syllabic / $_$
- j > i / V_$
- g > ɣ / V$_
Syllable Stress
- High tones always get primary stress.
- If there is a word with all identical tones, the ultimate syllable receives primary stress.
- In the event that there are varying tones, the last high tone receives the primary stress.