Consonants[]
Berthiaume (2004) report a complex phonology for Northern Pame with contrasts between plain, voiced, aspirated, and glottalized consonants both for the stops, nasals, affricates and approximants.
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | aspirated | glottalized | plain | aspirated | glottalized | palatalized | plain | aspirated | glottalized | plain | aspirated | glottalized | |||
| Nasal | m | mʱ | mˀ | n | nʱ | nˀ | ɲ | ɲʱ | ɲˀ | ||||||
| Stop | voiceless | p | pʰ | t | tʰ | tʼ | k | kʰ | kʼ | ʔ | |||||
| voiced | b | d | g | ||||||||||||
| Fricative | s | ʃ | h | ||||||||||||
| Affricate | t͡s | t͡sʰ | t͡sʼ | t͡ʃ | t͡ʃʰ | t͡ʃʼ | |||||||||
| Approximant | central | j | w | ||||||||||||
| lateral | l | lʱ | lˀ | ʎ | ʎʱ | ʎˀ | |||||||||
| Flap | ɾ | ɾʲ | |||||||||||||
Pame languages are tonal but the exact number of tonal contrasts is a matter of debate. Avelino, Gibson and Manrique have analyzed the language as having three tones: high and low level tones and a falling contour tone (Suárez 1983, pg. 51). However, Berthiaume (2004) argues that only a high and a rising tone exist, no low, level tone.
Vowels[]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | e | ə | o |
| Open | æ | ɑ |