The phonology is uncertain, due to the poor nature of the transcriptions. Schmidt (1952) reconstructed the following for East-central and South-east Tasmanian, as well as parts from Blake; Dixon (1981):
| Labial | Coronal | Velar | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | palatalized | dental | plain | palatalized | palatalized | plain | ||
| Stop | p/b | pʲ/bʲ | t̪/d̪ | t/d | tʲ/dʲ | kʲ/ɡʲ | k/ɡ | |
| Fricative | f/v | fʲ/vʲ | θ/ð | s/z | ʃ/ʒ | ç/ʝ | x/ɣ | |
| Nasal | m | mʲ | n̪ | n | nʲ | ɲ | ŋ | |
| Sonorant | central | ʙ/w | ʙʲ | r/ɹ | rʲ | j | ɰ | |
| lateral | l | lʲ | ʎ | ʟ | ||||
There may have also been a lamino-dental nasal [n̪], as well as a glottal stop.
Vowels included twelve short /a e i o u ɑ ɛ ɪ ɔ ʊ æ ʌ/, and twelve long vowels /aː eː iː oː uː ɑː ɛː ɪː ɔː ʊː æː ʌː/, and nasal vowels such as "[ʌ̃]" in French pronunciations. Stress appears to have been on the penultimate syllable.
Tasmanian languages differ from most of those on the mainland in having words that begin with l or r, as well as with consonant clusters such as br and gr. However, many of the languages of Victoria, across the Bass Strait, also allow initial l, and the language of Gippsland nearest Tasmania, Gunai, also had words beginning with trilled r and the clusters br and gr.[1]
References[]
- ↑ Barry Blake, 1991. Australian aboriginal languages: a general introduction