The phonology of Mehek is relatively simple. It has a five-vowel system, much like many of the non-Austronesian languages of Papua New Guinea, in addition to two diphthongs.[1] The consonant system is also fairly simple, containing 15 phonemes. Voiced stops are almost always prenasalized, though this effect is much weaker word-initially. The tables below list the consonant and vowel phonemes. In the list of vowels, the phones in parentheses are allophones.
Consonants[]
| Labial | Dental | Palatal | Velar | Labio- velar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stops | p b | t d | c ɟ | k ɡ | |
| Sibilants | s z | ʃ ʒ | |||
| Fricatives | f v | θ ð | ç ʝ | x ɣ | |
| Nasals | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |
| Approximants | ʋ | ɹ l | j ʎ | ɰ ʟ | ʍ w |
| Trills | ʙ | r |
Vowels[]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | ɨ | u |
| Mid-high | ɪ | ʊ | |
| Mid | e | ə | o |
| Mid-low | ɛ | ɜ ɞ | ʌ ɔ |
| Low | æ | a | ɑ ɒ |
| Diphthongs | ai | au |
References[]
- ↑ Laycock, D.C. (1965)