| labial | coronal | palatal | velar | glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nasals | *m | *n | *ŋ | ||
| stops | *p | *t | *k | *ʔ | |
| fricatives | *s | ||||
| *v | *ð | *ɣ | |||
| approximants | *ɾ | *j | *w |
| front | central | back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| close | *i | *u | |
| mid | *e | *o | |
| open | *a |
Test words + sound changes
/T/ is the only undecided segment in the inventory so far. This is some kind of dental fricative, though the exact production is unknown. I want this sound to merge with different consonants depending on the context, so the most likely production will be [θ], [ð] or [ɬ]. The variable production of the short close/mid vowels is a design choice to allow some phonetic variation, as otherwise, there would be no short close vowels. The close production is found in open syllables, while the mid production is found in closed syllables.
In terms of phonotactics, for my own ease of generating vocabulary and handling sound changes, I will say that this ancestral language has a very simple phonotactic structure of permitting any consonant in the onset, and only sonorants (except glides) are permitted in the coda. Visualised, this is:
| Onset | Nucleus | Coda |
|---|---|---|
| Optional consonant | Vowel | Optional sonorant, glide, vowel lengthening, or gemination |