Consonants[]
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | (Glottal) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | (p) b | t̪ d̪ | k kʷ (ɡ) | (ʔ) | ||
| Nasal | m | n̪ | ŋ | |||
| Fricative | f | s̪ | (h) | |||
| Approximant | w | j | ||||
| Lateral | l |
/ʔ/ and /h/ only appear in a few particles and some exclamations. /p/ and /ɡ/ only appear in a few loans.
| Phoneme(s) | Condition | Allophone |
|---|---|---|
| /b/ | intervocalic | [b~β] |
| syllable-final | [pʰ] | |
| /k/ | intervocalic | [ɣ] |
| /l/ | intervocalic | [ɾ] |
| /kd/ | (everywhere) | [ɡ] |
| /ŋd/ | (everywhere) | [ŋɡ] |
Vowels[]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː | u uː | |
| Mid | e eː | o oː | |
| Open | ɑ ɑː |
There are two contrastive phonemic tones in Telefol, high and low. For example, ùlín 'club' vs. úlìn 'planted'.
/e/ and /eː/, /o/ and /oː/, are nearly in complementary distribution. Also, single /e/ and /o/ don't occur in one-syllable words or in terminal syllables.
Vowel length only contrasts in initial syllables. However, in initial syllables single /u/ and /o/, and /i/ and /e/, don't contrast.
Phonotactics[]
Syllable structure is (C)V(ː)(C).
/l/ does not occur word-initially.
/ŋ/ is allowed in medial, but not word-initial, onsets.
References[]
- ↑ Telefol Organized Phonology Data, p. 3.