Consonants[]
Stirtz (2014) lists the following consonant phonemes:
| Labial | Dental | Palatal | Velar | Labiovelar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voiceless plosives | p | t̪ | c | k | k͡p | ʔ |
| Voiced plosives | b | d̪ | ɟ | g | g͡b | |
| Implosives | ɓ | ɗ | ʄ | ɠ | ||
| Prenasalised plosives | mb | nd̪ | nɟ | ŋg | ŋ͡mg͡b | |
| Nasals | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ŋ͡m | |
| Voiceless fricatives | f | s | ç | x | h | |
| Voiced fricatives | v | z | ʝ | ɣ | ɦ | |
| Central approximates | ʋ | ɾ, ɹ | j | ɰ | w | |
| Lateral approximates | ɺ, l | ʎ | ʟ |
Vowels[]
According to Stirtz (2014), ’Bëlï has nine vowel phonemes that can be divided into [+/- ATR] sets. The vowel [ə] is an allophone that does not occur in roots without other [+ATR] vowels:
| [-ATR] | [+ATR] |
|---|---|
| ɪ | i |
| ʏ | y |
| ʊ | u |
| ɛ | e |
| ɔ | o |
| æ | ɘ |
| a | ə |
| ɑ | ʌ |