Naro has the following consonant inventory, in the IPA of Miller (2011) and the orthography of Visser (2001):[1]
| Labial | Dental (click) |
Alveolar | Lateral click |
Palatal click |
Velar | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| stop | affricate | click | ||||||||
| Plosive | Aspirate | ph /pʰ/ | ch /ǀʰ/ | th /tʰ/ | tsh /tsʰ/ | qh /ǃʰ/ | xh /ǁʰ/ | tch /ǂʰ/ | kh /kʰ/ | |
| Tenuis | p /p/ | c /ǀ/ | t /t/ | ts /ts/ | q /ǃ/ | x /ǁ/ | tc /ǂ/ | k /k/ | j /ʔ/ | |
| Voiced | b /b/ | dc /ᶢǀ/ | d /d/ | z /dz/ | dq /ᶢǃ/ | dx /ᶢǁ/ | dtc /ᶢǂ/ | gh /ɡ/ | ||
| Nasal | Plain | m /m/ | nc /ᵑǀ/ | n /n/ | nq /ᵑǃ/ | nx /ᵑǁ/ | ntc /ᵑǂ/ | ŋ /ŋ/ | ||
| Glottalized | cʼ /ᵑǀˀ/ | qʼ /ᵑǃˀ/ | xʼ /ᵑǁˀ/ | tcʼ /ᵑǂˀ/ | ||||||
| Fricated | Plain | cg /ǀχ/ | tg /tχ/ | tsg /tsχ/ | qg /ǃχ/ | xg /ǁχ/ | tcg /ǂχ/ | (kg /kχ/) | ||
| Ejective | cgʼ /ǀχʼ/ | tsʼ /tsʼ/ | qgʼ /ǃχʼ/ | xgʼ /ǁχʼ/ | tcgʼ /ǂχʼ/ | kgʼ /kχʼ/ | ||||
| Fricative | Voiceless | f /f/ | þ /θ/ | s /s/ | g /x/ | h /h/ | ||||
| Voiced | v /v/ | ð /ð/ | l /z/ | ɣ /ɣ/ | ||||||
| Flap | w /ⱱ/ | r /ɾ/ | ||||||||
Kg and kgʼ only contrast for some speakers: kxʼám "mouth" vs. kʼáù "male". The flap r is only found medially except in loan words. An l is only found in loans, and is generally substituted by /ɾ/ medially and /n/ initially. Medial [j] and [w] may be /i/ and /u/; they occur initially only in wèé "all, both" and in yèè (an interjection).
Naro has five vowel qualities, a e i o u, which may occur long (aa ee ii oo uu), nasalized (ã ẽ ĩ õ ũ), pressed (a, e, i, o, u), or combinations of these (ã etc.). There are three tones, written á, a, à. Syllables are of the maximal form CVV, where VV is a long vowel, diphthong, or combination of vowel and m, and may take two tones: hḿm̀ "to see"; hm̀m̀ a xám̀ "to smell". The only consonant that can occur finally is m, except that long nasal vowels such as ãã may surface as [aŋ] ([ŋ] does not otherwise occur). Syllabic /n/ also occurs, as in nna.
Below is an overview of Naro clicks in both orthography and IPA (Visser 2001). The dental click is represented by c. alveolar click by q, palatal click by tc, and lateral click by x. All examples are from Visser (2001).
| Orthography | IPA | Example | Orthography | IPA | Example | Orthography | IPA | Example | Orthography | IPA | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| c | ǀ | cõose 'owl' | q | ǃ | qaò 'rise (sun, moon)' | tc | ǂ | tcúú 'head' | x | ǁ | xòa 'cave' |
| cg | ǀχ | cgàa 'flesh' | qg | ǃχ | qgóé 'to run' | tcg | ǂχ | tcgáí 'eye' | xg | ǁχ | xgóà 'angry' |
| cg' | ǀχʼ | cg'õè 'name' | qg' | ǃχʼ | qg'áó 'neck' | tcg' | ǂχʼ | tcg'áì 'sharp, spicy' | xg' | ǁχʼ | xg'ari 'to squeeze' |
| ch | ǀʰ | cóá 'child' | qh | ǃʰ | qhàò 'people, tribe, kind' | tch | ǂʰ | tchàà 'wide' | xh | ǁʰ | xhãya 'West, Namibia' |
| c' | ǀ̃ˀ | c'áò 'blood' | q' | ǃ̃ˀ | q'óà 'afraid' | tc' | ǂ̃ˀ | tc'ubi 'egg' | x' | ǁ̃ˀ | x'áà 'light (n.)' |
| dc | ǀ̬ | dcoàbà 'spider' | dq | !̬ | dqàne 'chin' | dtc | ǂ̬ | dtcìì 'fat (adj.)' | dx | ǁ̬ | dxàí 'cheek' |
| nc | ǀ̃ | nco̱à 'red' | nq | !̃ | nqàrè 'foot' | ntc | ǂ̃ | ntcùú 'black' | nx | ǁ̃ | nxào 'joke' |
References[]
- ↑ Visser originally wrote the palatal clicks with a base of ⟨ç⟩, but switched to ⟨tc⟩ to make the language more accessible from English-language typewriters and keyboards.