Oburax

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Consonants

	s	sʲ	ʃ
p	t̪	tʲ	k
w- -b-	d̪	j- -dʲ-	-g-
mb	nd̪	ndʲ	ŋg
m	n̪	nʲ
	l	lʲ	r

The somewhat backwards distribution of initial glides vs. medial voiced stops originates in that the voiced stops (except /d/) originate from medial voicing of voiceless stops; modern medial voiceless stops come from former consonant clusters of sibilant+stop. Thus, some /p t tʲ k/ alternate with /b d dʲ g/.

In some dialects initial prenasal stops denasalize to yield new voiced stops; in some others initial /w/, /j/ → /b~g/, /dʲ/. Also, in some dialects /p/ can become [ɸ] intervocally.

A more frequent dialectal (incl. colloquial standard speech) feature is the palatalization of /s l/ to /sʲ lʲ/ near front vowels, which tends to go with velarization of remaining /l/. More innovating dialects (which also realize /sʲ tʲ (n)dʲ/ as [ɕ tɕ (n)dʑ]) palatalize /ʃ/ as well.

/w-/ does not occur before difthongs ending in /w/.

Vowels

i		ɯ	u
e	ø
æ		ɑ	ɔ~ɒ

Vowels are long in an initial syllable, except before a consonant cluster (incl. prenasal stops).

There are also the difthongs /ie iø iu eu au ou/. Before a consonant other than a velar or /ʃ/, /iu/ is realized as [y(ː)]. Distribution of the /iV/ difthongs and /ou/ is somewhat limited: they may only occur in monosyllables.

The Biru dialect has added a stop at the end of monosyllabic words ending in a high vowel, if no coda otherwise exists:

• /i/ → /idʲ/
• /ɯ/ → /ɯg/
• /u iu eu au ou/ → /ub ib eb ab ob/

Roots are either of the form (C)V(C) or (C)VC{ə, ɨ}C. In bisyllabic roots, the V2 arkiphonemes become /i e/ near palatals, and remain approximately [ɯ ə] otherwise; also, the coda must be either an obstruent or a liquid.

Semicompatible dump

/pil/ /sʲin/ /wik/ /ŋgip/ /rinʲəs/ /iu/

/dek/ /dek-s/ /derəm/ /tʲeŋg/ /we/ /keŋg/ /neʃ/ /jek/ /sedʲət/

/wæm/ /sʲæk/ /wæl/ /æ/

/tønʲ/ /søp/ /køt/ /møtət/

/sɯ/ /ŋgɯr/ /pɯ/ /tʲɯt/ /lɯp/

/tʲarəp/ /warət/ /ʃan/ /ʃand/ /lak/ /at/ /kau/ /samb/

/mbuk/ /dun/ /mugə/ /sum/ /sut/ /sudək/ /wus/ /tʃu/ /pu/ /rul/