The Ẹrụwa vowel system is hardly reduced from that reconstructed for proto-Edoid. There are nine vowels in two harmonic sets, /i e a o u/ and /ɪ ɛ a ɔ ʊ/.[1]
The language arguably has no phonemic nasal stops; [m, n] alternate with [b, l], depending on whether the following vowel is oral or nasal. The approximants /ʋ, ɹ, j, w/ also have nasal allophones. The inventory is:[2]
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labio-velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p b | t d | k ɡ | k͡p ɡ͡b | ||
| Fricative | f v | s z | x ɣ | h | ||
| Nasal | m | n | ||||
| Approximant | l | |||||
| ʋ | ɹ | j | w |