The following explains the phonology of the Malinaltepec Tlapanec language:
Vowels[]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː | u uː | |
| Mid | e eː | o oː | |
| Open | a aː |
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | ĩ ĩː | ũ ũː | |
| Mid | ẽ ẽː | õ õː | |
| Open | ã ãː |
Consonants[]
| Bilabial | Labio- dental |
Alveolar | Post- alveolar |
Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | ʔ | ||||
| aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | kʰ | ||||||
| voiced | b | d | ɡ | ||||||
| Affricate | voiceless | t͡s | t͡ʃ | ||||||
| voiced | d͡ʒ | ||||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | ɸ | f | s | ʃ | ʂ | h | ||
| voiced | β | v | ʐ | ɣ | |||||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |||||
| Trill | r | ||||||||
| Flap | ɾ | ||||||||
| Approximant | l | j | w | ||||||
Allophones of the sounds /v b ɡ ʂ n r/ include [f β ɣ ʃ ŋ ɾ~ʐ]. In the existence of the cluster /hw/, an allophone [ɸ] may be heard.
The glottal stop is written with a saltillo ⟨ꞌ⟩.