Comparing Heikinnen's[1] and Widlock's[2] contribution to ǂAkhoe phonology with the more general and theoretical phonological work of Peter Ladefoged (1996),[3] ǂAkhoe can be said to have 47 phonemes. However, an in-depth phonological sketch of the language might show other results where the vowels are concerned.
Consonants[]
There are 34 consonants in ǂAkhoe, 20 of which are clicks produced with an ingressive airstream, and 14 of which are pulmonic consonants produced with an egressive airstream.
- Clicks
| Accompaniment and Influx | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Lateral | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| orth. | IPA | orth. | IPA | orth. | IPA | orth. | IPA | |
| VL unaspirated | ǀg | kǀ | ǂg | kǂ | ǃg | kǃ | ǁg | kǁ |
| VL aspirated | ǀkh | ǀˣ | ǂkh | ǂˣ | !kh | ǃˣ | ǁkh | ǁˣ |
| VL nasalised | ǀh | ǀ | ǂh | ǂˣ | ǃh | ǃˣ | ǁh | ǁˣ |
| VD nasalised | ǀn | ŋǀʰ | ǂn | ŋǂʰ | ǃn | ŋ!ʰ | ǁn | ŋǁʰ |
| Glottal closure | ǀ | kǀʔ | ǂkh | kǂʔ | ǃ | kǃʔ | ǁ | kǁʔ |
- Pulmonic consonants
| Bilabial | Dental | Alveolar | Velar | Glottal | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| orth. | IPA | orth. | IPA | orth. | IPA | orth. | IPA | orth. | IPA | |
| Stop plain | b | p | t | t | k | k | ||||
| Stop nasalised | mb | ᵐb | nd | ⁿd | ||||||
| VL affricate | tsh | tʃ | kh | kx | ||||||
| VD affricate | ndz | ⁿdʒ | ||||||||
| Fricative | s | s | x | x | h | ɦ | ||||
| Flap | r | ɾ | ||||||||
| Nasal | m | m | n | n | ||||||
Vowels[]
ǂAkhoe Haiǁom has a total of 12 vowel phonemes. These can be divided into monophthongs and diphthongs, with a further subdivision into oral and nasal pronunciation.
- Monophtongs
- /i e a o u/ and /ĩ ã ũ/.
- Diphthongs
- /ai au/ and /ãi ãu/.