Kurdish phonology

Kurdish phonology is the sound system of the Kurdish language continuum. This article includes the phonology of the three Kurdish dialects in their standard form respectively. Phonological features include the distinction between aspirated and unaspirated voiceless stops and the presence of facultative phonemes.

Consonants

The consonants are pronounced the same in the three dialects (Northern Kurdish, Central Kurdish and Southern Kurdish), unless noted.

Consonant phonemes

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar		Palatal		Velar		Uvular		Pharyngeal	Glottal
			plain	velar.	plain	labial.	plain	labial.	plain	labial.
Nasal		m	n				ŋ
Plosive	voiceless asp.	pʰ	tʰ		t͡ʃʰ		kʰ		qʰ
	vcls. unasp.	p	t		t͡ʃ		k	kʷ	q	qʷ		ʔ
	voiced	b	d		d͡ʒ		ɡ	ɡʷ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	sˠ	ʃ		x	xʷ			ħ	h
	voiced	v	z	zˠ	ʒ		ɣ	ɣʷ			ʕ
Approximant			l	ɫ	j	ɥ		w
Rhotic			ɾ		r

Vowels

The vowel inventory differs by dialect, some dialect having more vowel phonemes than others. /iː, ʊ, uː, ɛ, eː, oː, ɑː/ are the only vowel phonemes present in all three Kurdish dialects.

Vowel phonemes

	Front		Central	Back
	unrounded	rounded		unrounded	rounded
Close	iː ɪ		ʉ ɨ		ʊ uː
Close-mid	eː	øː			o oː
Open-mid	ɛ
Open	a			ɑː

External links

• Kurdish phonology