Phonology
Naro has the following consonant inventory, in the IPA of Miller (2011) and the orthography of Visser (2001):
| Labial | Dental click |
Alveolar | Lateral click |
Palatal click |
Velar | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| stop | affricate | click | |||||||
| Aspirate | ph /pʰ/ | ch /ǀʰ/ | th /tʰ/ | tsh /tsʰ/ | qh /ǃʰ/ | xh /ǁʰ/ | tch /ǂʰ/ | kh /kʰ/ | |
| Tenuis | p /p/ | c /ǀ/ | t /t/ | ts /ts/ | q /ǃ/ | x /ǁ/ | tc /ǂ/ | k /k/ | |
| Voiced | b /b/ | dc /ᶢǀ/ | d /d/ | z /dz/ | dq /ᶢǃ/ | dx /ᶢǁ/ | dtc /ᶢǂ/ | gh /ɡ/ | |
| Nasal | m /m/ | nc /ᵑǀ/ | n /n/ | nq /ᵑǃ/ | nx /ᵑǁ/ | ntc /ᵑǂ/ | |||
| Glottalized | c’ /ᵑǀˀ/ | q’ /ᵑǃˀ/ | x’ /ᵑǁˀ/ | tc’ /ᵑǂˀ/ | |||||
| Fricated | cg /ǀχ/ | tg /tχ/ | tsg /tsχ/ | qg /ǃχ/ | xg /ǁχ/ | tcg /ǂχ/ | (kg /kχ/) | ||
| Fricated ejective | cg’ /ǀχ’/ | ts’ /ts’/ | qg’ /ǃχ’/ | xg’ /ǁχ’/ | tcg’ /ǂχ’/ | kg’ /kχ’/ | |||
| Fricative | f /f/ | s /s/ | g /x/ | h /h/ | |||||
| Flap | r /ɾ/ | ||||||||
Kg and kg’ only contrast for some speakers: kx’ám "mouth" vs. k’áù "male". The flap r is only found medially except in loan words. An l is only found in loans, and is generally substituted by /ɾ/ medially and /n/ initially. Medial and may be /i/ and /u/; they occur initially only in wèé "all, both" and in yèè (an interjection).
Naro has five vowel qualities, a e i o u, which may occur long (aa ee ii oo uu), nasalized (ã ẽ ĩ õ ũ), pressed (a, e, i, o, u), or combinations of these (ã etc.). There are three tones, written á, a, à. Syllables are of the maximal form CVV, where VV is a long vowel, diphthong, or combination of vowel and m, and may take two tones: hḿm̀ "to see"; hm̀m̀ a xám̀ "to smell". The only consonant that can occur finally is m, except that long nasal vowels such as ãã may surface as ( does not otherwise occur). Syllabic /n/ also occurs, as in nna.
Read more about this topic: Naro Language