Yapese Language - Phonology

Phonology

Yapese is one of the relatively few languages in the world with ejective fricatives. The Yapese ejective consonants are /pʼ tʼ kʼ fʼ θʼ/ (s and ch do not have ejective homologues). There are also glottalised nasals /mˀ nˀ ŋˀ/ and lateral /lˀ/.

Apart from a couple grammatical forms which are V, syllables are CV or CVC, where V may be

a aa ae ä e ee ea ë i ii o oo oe ö u uu

and C

b bp ch d f f' g gg k k' l l' ll lr m m' n n' ng ng' p p' q r rr s t t' th th' w ww y yy

H and j also occur in Japanese and English loans. The consonants written with digraphs apart from ch and th are uncommon. There is little restriction on final consonants; indeed, root words cannot end in a short vowel, and final consonants predominate.