jump to navigation

Consonants June 25, 2008

Posted by project920 in Uncategorized.
trackback

The consonant inventory consists of 22 letters from the Latin alphabet and one letter from the Cyrillic alphabet. They are:

b, c, ç, d, f, g, h, j, ĵ, k, l, m, n, ñ, p, r, s, t, v, x, z, ż, ь

All letters are equivalent to their phonetic values in English, with the following exceptions:

c – /ts/ in most cases; when preceded by a weak vowel it becomes /s/
ç – /tʃ/ as in “chair”
ħ – /x / as in “Johann Sebastian Bach”
j – palatal approximant, /j/ – pronounced as English “y”
ĵ – post-alveolar affricate /dʒ/ – prounounced as English “j”
ñ – palatal nasal /ɲ/ – as in Spanish “Español,” but becomes a velar nasal /ŋ/ at the end of words.
ş – /ʃ/
x – /ʕ/ – voiceless pharyngeal fricative
ż – /ʒ/ or /ʐ/
ь – no independent sound, but lengthens the vowel preceding it, much like the Turkish ğ

Comments»

No comments yet — be the first.