Project 920

Consonants June 25, 2008

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