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 /m/ | n /n/ | [ŋ] | ||||||
| Plosive | tenuis | p /p/ | t /t/ | c /k/ | qu /kʷ/ | h /ʔ/ | hu /ʔw/ | ||
| aspirated | b /pʰ/ | d /tʰ/ | (g /kʰ/) | gu /kʷʰ/ | |||||
| ejective | th /tʼ/ | ch /kʼ/ | |||||||
| Fricative | z /s/ | ł /ɬ/ | x /ʃ/ | [h~ɦ] | |||||
| Affricate | tenuis | tz /ts/ | tł /tɬ/ | tx /tʃ/ | |||||
| aspirated | dz /tsʰ/ | dł /tɬʰ/ | dx /tʃʰ/ | ||||||
| ejective | tzh /tsʼ/ | tłh /tɬʼ/ | txh /tʃʼ/ | ||||||
| Approximant | l /l/ | y /j/ | u /w/ | ||||||
/kʷ gʷ ʔʷ/ is written uc ug uh syllable finally.
- 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.