In the Kari'nja language, there are four syllable patterns: V, CV, VC, CVC; C standing for consonants while V means a vowel. Regarding phonemes, consonants are divided into two groups: obstruents (voiceless stops—p, t, k) and resonants (voiced stops—b, d, g, s).
Kari'nja has a typical 6 vowel system after *ô merged with *o, being a e i o u ï. Compared to past Kari'nja, the modern day Kari'nja has replaced the e in many words to o.
Grammar[]
There are 17 particles within Kari'nja which include the ky- prefix and the -ng suffix.
| Bilabial | Labio- dental |
Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | p /p/ | t /t/ | ṫ /ʈ/ | ĉ /tʃ/ | k /k/ | h /ʔ~h/ | ||
| voiced | b /b/ | d /d/ | ḋ /ɖ/ | ĵ /dʒ/ | g /ɡ/ | ||||
| Fricative | voiceless | ḟ /ɸ/ | f /f/ | c /θ/ | s /s/ | š /ʂ/ | ʃ /ʃ/ | x /x/ | |
| voiced | ṿ /β/ | v /v/ | ð /ð/ | z /z/ | ž /ʐ/ | ʒ /ʒ/ | ɣ /ɣ/ | ||
| Nasal | m /m/ | ṁ /ɱ/ | n /n/ | ň /ɳ/ | ɲ /ɲ/ | ŋ /ŋ/ | |||
| Tap/Flap | ṿ /ⱱ̟/ | v /ⱱ/ | r /ɾ/ | ř /ɽ/ | j /ʎ̆/ | ɯ /ʟ̆/ | |||
| Trill | q /ʙ/ | r /r/ | |||||||
| Approximant | w /w/ | ʋ /ʋ/ | l /ɹ/ | ł /ɻ/ | j /j/ | ɯ /ɰ/ | |||
| Front | Central | Back | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unr. | Rnd. | Unr. | Rnd. | ||
| Close | i /i/ | ï /ɨ/ | ü /ʉ/ | u /u/ | |
| Close-mid | e /e/ | ë /ɘ/ | ɵ /ɵ/ | o /o/ | |
| Open-mid | ɛ /ɛ/ | ʌ /ʌ/ | ɔ /ɔ/ | ||
| Open | æ /æ/ | a /a/ | y /ɒ̈/ | ä /ɑ/ | ö /ɒ/ |
Allophones for /r w t/ include sounds as /ɽ β,v tʃ/. /s/ before /i/ may be pronounced as /ʃ/. /n/ before a consonant may be pronounced as /ŋ/ and also /ɲ/ elsewhere. Another sound, ranging /h~x/, often occurs before a voiced or voiceless consonant, and succeeding a vowel, it can also be an allophone of /ʔ/.