Gudang Dialect - Phonology

Phonology

Going by the records of the language recorded in MacGillivray and Brierly, as well as comparing these with their Urradhi and WCL counterparts, the phonology of the language appeared to have been as follows:

vowels : i, ii; e, ee; a, aa; u, uu

i,ii and u,uu had mid variants, thus and . Some Western-Central Torres Strait Language (WCL; see Kala Lagaw Ya) loans probably retained the WCL vowels unchanged. e/ee otherwise appear to have had a similar marginal status as in Urradhi (Crowley 1983:317).

consonants :

labial p, b, m

velar k, g, ng

labio-velar kw, w

lamino-dental th, dh, l, nh

lamino-palatal ch, j, ny, y

alveolar t, d, n, rr

retroflex rt, r

The non-sonorant sounds appear to have had voice contrasts, except after nasals, when both voiced and voiceless allophones occurred, with the voiced allophones seemingly more common. While the lamino-dental and alveolar contrast was not marked by the European recorders, the Urradhi and WCL cognates strongly suggest that it existed.