Seloi Phonology
Consonants
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Velar | Palatal | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | p | t | k | ||
| Nasal | m | n | |||
| Fricative | v | s | h | ||
| Lateral | l | ||||
| Approximate | j |
Vowels
All vowel sequences are pure, i.e. none of them diphthongize. A sequence of a + i, for example, is pronounced as two distinct vowels, and thus two distinct syllables. So the word aipja is made up of three syllables: a.i.pja.
Phonotactics
Possible word-final consonants are limited to -t, -l, -s, -m, -n.
Initial consonants cluster are limited to sp-, sm-, sn-, st-, except j can follow any consonant except h to form a syllable onset.
CVCV is a typical syllabic structure, as well as CVCCV and CVC.
Sequences of double vowels are considered two occurrences of the same vowel, not a phonemically special vowel of their own.
Minimal Pairs
- kula
- ‘justify’
- kulo
- ‘explode’
- lela
- ‘bird’
- leta
- ‘globe; absolve’
- mina
- ‘spider’
- miva
- ‘power’
- toji
- ‘earthworm’
- toli
- ‘touch’
- tuli
- ‘white water bird’
- tulu
- ‘brother’
- taspa
- ‘white’
- tasta
- ‘decline’