The following tables set out the phonology of Kundal Shahi.
Vowels[]
Kandal Shahi is unusual amongst Dardic languages in that it has front rounded vowels.
| Front | Central | Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| unrounded | rounded | unrounded | rounded | unrounded | rounded | |
| Close | i iː | y yː | ɨ ɨː | u uː | ||
| Close-Mid | e eː | øː | ə | ɤ | o oː | |
| Open-Mid | ɛ ɛː | ʌ | ɔ ɔː | |||
| Open | æ | a aː | ɒ̈ | ɑ ɑː | ɒ ɒː | |
Consonants[]
Like Kashmiri, Kundal Shahi is unusual amongst Dardic languages in that it lacks retroflex fricatives and affricates.
| Labial | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɳ | ɲ | ŋ | ɴ | ||
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | ʈ | c | k | q | ʔ |
| aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | ʈʰ | cʰ | kʰ | qʰ | ||
| voiced | b | d | ɖ | ɟ | ɡ | ɢ | ||
| Affricate | voiceless | tʃ | ||||||
| aspirated | tʃʰ | |||||||
| voiced | dʒ | |||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | x | χ | h | |
| voiced | v | z | ʒ | ɣ | ʁ | |||
| Lateral | l | ɭ | ʎ | ʟ | ʟ̠ | |||
| Flap | ⱱ | ɾ | ɽ | ʎ̆ | ʟ̆ | ɢ̆ | ||
| Approximant | ʋ | ɹ | ɻ | j | w | |||
Tone[]
Kundal Shahi, like many Dardic languages, has either phonemic tone or, as in Kundal Shahi, pitch accent. Words may have only one accented mora, which is associated with high pitch; the remaining mora have a default or low pitch.