Kythish phonemes

Vowels

Kythish has 7 'short' vowels (a, e, i, o, u, w, and y) and 7 roughly equivalent 'long' vowels (á, é, í, ó, ú, ẃ, and ý). The terminology is based on the fact that long vowels, when stressed, have a longer duration than their short equivalents.

Vowel	IPA Equivalent	Notes
a	[æ]	Heightened to [ɛ] in a diverse number of dialects.
á	[a]	[aː] when stressed.
e	[ɛ]
é	[e]	[eː] when stressed.
i	[ɪ]
í	[i]	[iː] when stressed.
o	[ɔ]	Relaxed to [ɞ] in eastern dialects.
ó	[o]	Relaxed to [ɵ] in the east; [oː] ([ɵː]) when stressed.
u	see notes	Ranges from back open-mid ([ʌ]) in the north and west through back near-open, near-back near-open in the south and centre to central near-open ([ɐ]) in the east. Most lexicographers give it as [ʌ], as this is the pronunciation most often heard in and around hácei.
ú	[ɑ]	[ɑː] when stressed.
w	[ʊ]
ẃ	[u]	Relaxed to /ʉ/ in the east, or retained as /y/ or /ʏ/ in many rural areas; /uː/ (/ʉː/, /yː/, /ʏː/) when stressed.
y	[ə]	In some dialects, [ɘ] when stressed.
ý	[ɜ]	[ɜː] when stressed.

In addition, the dialectal vowels ø and ǿ are pronounced thus:

Vowel	IPA Equivalent	Notes
ø	[œ]
ǿ	[ø]	[øː] when stressed.

Consonants

Consonant	IPA Equivalent	Notes
b	[b]	[p] initially and medially for many speakers.
bh	[β]	Considered allophonic with v.
c	[kʰ]	Finally and in clusters, [k].
ch	[x]
ć	[x]
d	[d]	[t] initially and medially for many speakers.
dh	[ð] or [z]	Depends on whether d is realised as dental or alveolar (usually the former).
ð	[ð]
f	[f]
g	[g]	[k] initially and medially for many speakers.
gh	[ɣ]
ǵ	[ɣ]
h	[h]
hƿ	[hʍ]	[ʍ] in a diverse number of dialects.
j	[j]
l	[l]
m	[m]
n	[n]
ŋ	[ŋ]
p	[pʰ]	Finally and in clusters, [p].
ph	[ɸ]	Considered allophonic with f.
r	see notes	Adjacent to a fricatives, [ɹ], otherwise, [r], and shortened to [ɾ] in quick speech. (Gutturalised as [xɹ] or [χɹ] in southern and some metropolitan dialects).
ŕ	[ʀ̥]
s	[s]
ś	[ʃ]
t	[tʰ]	Finally and in clusters, [t].
th	[θ] or [s]	Depends on whether d is realised as dental or alveolar (usually the former).
þ	[θ]
v	[v]
ƿ	[w]	Adjacent to voiceless consonants, [ʍ].
z	[z]
ź	[ʒ]

In addition, the dialectal consonants ç and ḉ, and digraph çh, are pronounced thus:

Consonant	IPA Equivalent	Notes
ç	[cʰ]	Finally and in clusters, [c].
çh	[ç]
ḉ	[ç]

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