Amòssi

Phonology

Phonemes

Consonants

There are 30 phonemic consonants in the inventory of Amòssi.

Consonants
	Bilabial		Labiodent.		Alveolar		Palato-alv.		Retroflex		Velar		Uvular		Glottal
Nasal	m					n						ŋ
Plosive	p				t	d					k	g	q		ʔ
Affricate					ʦ				ʈʂ	ɖʐ
Fricative				v	s		ɕ		ʂ	ʐ	x				h
Lateral Approximant						l
Rhotic						r								ʁ

The chart above shows 23 of the 30 phonemic consonants. The additional 7 consonants form two different series: the velarized alveolar series, and the labio-velar series:

-The velarized alvelolar series is similar to the "emphatic" consonants of the Semitic languages. Only certain alveolar consonants can be velarized phonemically, but phonetically in many dialects, other consonants are velarized as well. The series consists of 5 of the "plain" alveolars in the chart above: /n t d s l/, whose velarized counterparts are: /nˠ tˠ dˠ sˠ ɫ/. The distinction can easily be seen in minimal pairs such as s and ṣ (/s/ and /sˠ/ respectively); the former means 'of, from', while the latter means 'and'.

-The labio-velar series is much smaller, and only consists of 2 phonemes: /kʷ gʷ/. Rather than being simply /k g/ with a secondary articulation, however, they are literally a /k g/ sound pronounced with the lips rounded. However, because the distinction is somewhat difficult to hear, especially for non-native speakers, many dialects have either neutralized the distinction (i.e. merging /k g/ and /kʷ gʷ/), or strengthened the distinction (i.e. strengthening /kʷ gʷ/ to /kp gb/, labio-velar stops). But, in the standard Amòssi dialect, the distinction is a labialized stop.

Vowels

There are 9 contrasting (short) vowels in the standard Amòssi dialect. In addition, there are 4 contrasting nasalized vowels, as well as lengthened vowel counterparts to each short vowel (nasalized vowels excluded).

Vowels
	Front		Central		Back
Close	i	y				u
Close-Mid		ø			ɤ
Open-Mid	ɛ					ɔ
Near-Open			ɐ
Open					ɑ

As mentioned earlier, each of these 9 vowels has a long counterpart: /i: y: u: ø: ɤ: ɛ: ɔ: ɐ: ɑ:/. In addition, 4 of these vowels has a nasalized counterpart: /ɑ̃ ɛ̃ ɔ̃ ũ/.