Hantza/Phonology

See also: Hantza alphabet

This article deals with the phonology and phonetics of Hantza and the statements made herein refer to the Karakum dialect as this includes around 53% of native Hantza speakers. For specific traits of other dialects see Hantza dialects. Likewise prosody is dealt with in a separate article.

Consonants

There are eighteen consonant phonemes in Hantza.

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n		ŋ
Plosive	p b	t d		k	ʔ
Fricative	f	s			h
Affricate		t͡s d͡z
Approx.			j	w
Liquid		r l

In Hantza, /s/ is typically realised as the retracted [s̠] and, for many speakers, it is realised as [ɕ] before /i/. Similarly, /ts/ may become [tɕ] before /i/.

The glottal fricative /h/ is realised differently depending on the vowel that follows it. These allophones are given in the table below:

	Before /a/	Before /e, i/	Before /o, u/
Intervocalic	[ħ̝]	[ç]	[ɦ̝ʷ]
Elsewhere	[x̟]		[ħ̝ʷ]

The single rhotic in Hantza /r/ also has a great many realisations but these differ according to dialect: [ɾ ~ ɹ ~ r ~ ʀ ~ ʁ ~ χ ~ x]. It is also often labialised before /o, u/.

The lateral /l/ is realised as a dark [ɫ] when followed by /k, h/ and as a clear [l] elsewhere.

Vowels

Hantza's vowel inventory is a simple five-vowel system, similar to that of many modern languages, such as Greek and Swahili. Vowel length is not phonemic in Hantza and there are no diphthongs.

	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Mid	e	o
Open	a

In most dialects, with the exception of /a/, vowels do not undergo reduction when unstressed; /a/ is phonetically [ä] when stressed and [ɐ] when unstressed. The remaining four vowels /i, u, e, o/ are usually realised as [ɪ, ʉ, ɛ, ɔ].