Torres Strait Creole - Phonology

Phonology

The language has the following vowels (please note that there is some dialect difference as well):

high : i, u

mid-high : ù

mid : e, o

low : a, ò

Sounds found in individual dialects:

mid-central : œ - Western-Central-TI-Papuan (in words from English, Kala Lagaw Ya, Agöb, Gidra, Malay and other languages)

mid-high : ì - Eastern (in words from Meriam Mìr)

Vowel length for the language as a whole is non-contrastive, though in some subdialects/dialects it appears to be contrastive.

Consonants:

labial: p, b, m, w

dental: th, dh, n, l

alveolar: t, d, r

alveo-palatal: s, z, y

velar: k, g, ng

The dental-alveolar contrast exists in the Western, Central and Cape York dialects, however only exists in other dialects in so far as either English or Western-Central influences force a contrast, or where the voiced alveolar stop d realises as the rhotic tap r (e.g. Western-Central wasamada what's the matter/what's wrong, Eastern/Papuan wasamara). In the Papuan dialects, the only alveolar consonant is r, t and d being dental (i.e. fall together with th and dh), while in Meriam influenced Broken, t is dental, while d is alveolar.

P, b, th, dh, k and g are aspirated stops (i.e. accompanied by a small 'puff of air'), and also have fully aspirated allophones, particularly p (thus -, -, -, -, -, - ) while s and z vary in pronunciation between, and . These reflect indigenous language allophony as well as a rationalisation of the larger English (and Malay, etc.) consonant phoneme inventory. The consonants t, d, m, n, l, w, y and ng do not have any major allophonic variation, while r varies from flap to trill to rhotic glide.