Shipibo phonology

Vowels

Monophthong phonemes

	Front	Central	Back
			unr.	rnd.
Close	i /i ĩ/	ɨ /ɨ/	u /ɯ ɯ̃/
Close-mid	e /ø/	ɵ /ɵ/	ɯ /ɤ/	ø /o õ/
Open-mid	ɛ /ɛ/		ʌ /ʌ/	ɔ /ɔ/
Open	æ /æ/	a /a ã/	y /ɑ/	o /ɒ/

• /i/ is near-close front unrounded [i̞].
• /ɯ/ is close near-back unrounded [ɯ̟].
  • Before coronal consonants (especially /n, t, s/) it can be realized as close central unrounded [ɨ].
• /o/ is mid near-back unrounded [o̽].
• /i, ɯ, o/ tend to be more central in closed syllables.
• /a/ is near-open central unrounded [ɐ].
• In connected speech, two adjacent vowels may be realized as a rising diphthong.

Nasal

• The oral vowels /i, ɯ, o, a/ are phonetically nasalized [ĩ, ɯ̃, õ, ã] after a nasal consonant, but the phonological behaviour of these allophones is different from the nasal vowel phonemes /ĩ, ɯ̃, õ, ã/.
• Oral vowels in syllables preceding syllables with nasal vowels are realized as nasal, but not when a consonant other than /w, j/ intervenes.

Unstressed

• The second one of the two adjacent unstressed vowels is often deleted.
• Unstressed vowels may be devoiced or even elided between two voiceless obstruents.

Consonants

Consonant phonemes

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m /m/	n /n/		ɲ /ɲ/	ŋ /ŋ/
Plosive	voiceless	p /p/	t /t/		c /c/	q /k/
	voiced	b /b/	z /d/		l /ɟ/	g /ɡ/
Affricate	voiceless		j /ts/		ǰ /tʃ/
Fricative	voiceless	x /ɸ/	s /s/	š /ʂ/	ʃ /ʃ/	k /x/	h /h/
	voiced	v /β/			ʒ /ʒ/	ɣ /ɣ/
Approximant		w /w/	r /ɹ/	ɽ /ɻ/	d /j/	f /ɰ/

• /m, p, β/ are bilabial, whereas /w/ is labialized velar.
  • /β/ is most typically a fricative [β], but other realizations (such as an approximant [β̞], a stop [b] and an affricate [bβ]) also appear. The stop realization is most likely to appear in word-initial stressed syllables, whereas the approximant realization appears most often as onsets to non-initial unstressed syllables.
• /n, ts, s/ are alveolar [n, ts, s], whereas /t/ is dental [t̪].
• The /ʂ–ʃ/ distinction can be described as an apical–laminal one.
• /tʃ, ʃ/ are palato-alveolar, whereas /j/ is palatal.
• Before nasal vowels, /w, j/ are nasalized [w̃, j̃] and may be even realized close to nasal stops [ŋʷ, ɲ].
• /w/ is realized as [w] before /a, ã/, as [ɥ] before /i, ĩ/ and as [ɰ] before /ɯ, ɯ̃/. It does not occur before /o, õ/.
• /ɻ/ is a very variable sound:
  • Intervocalically, it is realized either as an approximant [ɻ], or sometimes as a (weak) fricative [ʐ].
  • Sometimes (especially in the beginning of a stressed syllable) it can be realized as a postalveolar affricate [d̠͡z̠], or a stop-approximant sequence [d̠ɹ̠].
  • It can also be realized as a postalveolar flap [ɾ̠].

External links

• Shipibo language