Red Laqi language/Phonology

Consonants

		Labial		Alveolar		Postalveolar		Alveolopalatal	Retroflex	Velar		Uvular		Pharyngeal	Glottal
		plain	lab.	plain	lab.	plain	lab.			plain	lab.	plain	lab.		plain	lab.
Nasal		m		n
Plosive	voiceless	p		t							kʷ	q	qʷ		ʔ	ʔʷ
	voiced	b		d							gʷ
	ejective	p'	pʷ'	t'	tʷ'						kʷ'
Affricate	voiceless			t͡s	t͡sʷ	t͡ʃ			t͡ʂ
	voiced			d͡z	d͡zʷ	d͡ʒ
	ejective			t͡s'		t͡ʃ'			t͡ʂ'
Fricative	voiceless	f		s	ɬ	ʃ	ʃʷ	ɕ	ʂ	x	xʷ	χ	χʷ	ħ
	voiced			z	ɮ	ʒ	ʒʷ	ʑ	ʐ	ɣ		ʁ	ʁʷ
	ejective				ɬ'	ʃ'	ʃʷ'
Approximant								j			w
Trill				r

Vowels

	Central
Close-mid	ə
Open	a aː

Red Laqi's vowel system highly reduced, especially in comparison with its extensive consonant inventory. Correlations with related varieties suggests that the labialized consonants derive from ancestral Consonant-Back Vowel syllables, with the roundness converted into labialization. Similarly, the broad range of palatalized consonants derive from ancestral Consonant-Front Vowel syllables.

Depending on the subvariety, Red Laqi's three remaining vowel phonemes are either interpreted as above, two ranks in which there is a distinction between long and short in the Open rank, or as below, of three ranks.

	Central
Close-mid	ə
Open-mid	ɜ
Open	a

This latter interpretation is the source of Red Laqi's transcription style, despite the former interpretation reflecting a more common pronunciation as well as longstanding morphological patterns (i.e. two e vowels combining to form a).

Transcription

Character		Phoneme	Examples
A a		/aː/	aban "hole"
B b		/b/	be "a lot (of)"
C	C c	/t͡s/	cage "rib", cy "body hair"
	C° c°	/t͡sʷ/	c°y "ox"
	C' c'	/t͡s'/	c'yfy "person"
	Ć ć	/t͡ʃ/	ćefy "cheerful, pleased"
	Ć' ć'	/t͡ʃ'/	ć'ymafe "winter", ćase "late", ćyg°e "land"
	Ĉ ĉ	/t͡ʂ/	ĉy'e "cold"
	Ĉ' ĉ'	/t͡ʂ'/	ĉyfe "debt"
D	D d	/d/	dedźe "bitter"
	Dz dz	/d͡z/	dzeue "bag", dze "combat, war"
	Dz° dz°	/d͡zʷ/	ḥandz°e "rick, 1.208 m3"
	Dź dź	/d͡ʒ/	dźane "dress, robe, shirt", łamydź "bridge"
E e		/a/	'eneẑ, neneẑ "grandmother"
F f		/f/	fyžy "white"
G	G g	/ɣ/	gyć'yġ "laundry", ge "gonad"
	G° g°	/gʷ/	g°y "heart"
	Ġ ġ	/ʁ/	ġathe "spring", -ġe "-ity, -ness"
	Ġ° ġ°	/ʁʷ/	ġ°yneġ°y "neighbour"
H	H h	/x/	-he "-s (plural marker)"
	Ḥ ḥ	/ħ/	ḥe "dog"
I i		/j/	iai "theirs", iat'e "dirt"
K	K° k°	/kʷ/	k°y "cart"
	K°' k°'	/kʷ'/	k°'akle "strong", -k°'e "-er"
L	L l	/ɮ/	ly "meat"
	Ł ł	/ɬ/	łaše "weak"
	Ł' ł'	/ɬ'/	ł'y "man"
M m		/m/	maze "moon", mepy "sheep"
N n		/n/	ne "eye", ny "mother"
P	P p	/p/	plyžy "red" paie "for, in order to"
	P' p'	/p'/	p'e "bed"
	P°'	/pʷ'/	p°'yr "apprentice"
Q	Q q	/q/	qek°'eḥyn "to stroll, roam" maq "voice"
	Q° q°	/qʷ/	q°yŝe "mountain", q°e "-son (patronymic)"
R r		/r/	rezeġen "to become content"
S	S s	/s/	se "I, me", seśh°e "sabre"
	Ś ś	/ʃ/	śy "horse, brother"
	Ś' ś'	/ʃ'/	ś'yn "to do"
	Ś° ś°	/ʃʷ/	ś°y- "you all (imperative plural marker)"
	Ś°' ś°'	/ʃ'ʷ/	ś°'yc'e "black"
	Š š	/ɕ/	šy "three"
	Ŝ ŝ	/ʂ/	ŝe "hundred", ŝabe "soft, meek"
T	T t	/t/	te "we"
	T' t'	/t'/	nyt'e "yes"
	T°' t°'	/tʷ'/	t°'yrys "old"
U u		/w/	uyben "to tamp, make smooth"
X	X x	/χ/	xyien "to move"
	X° x°	/χʷ/	-x°y "male ___"
Y y		/ə/	zy "one"
Z	Z z	/z/	-bze "female ___, -speech"
	Ź ź	/ʒ/	bźyḥe "autumn"
	Ź° ź°	/ʒʷ/	ź°aġ°e "star"
	Ž ž	/ʑ/	žaua "shadow"
	Ẑ ẑ	/ʐ/	ẑy "old", ẑaẑe "slow"
'	'	/ʔ/	'e "hand"
	'°	/ʔʷ/	'°yćen "to meet"