Sound System
The Western Pantar consonant inventory includes: voiced and voiceless stops /p t k ’/ and /b d g/; voiceless fricatives /s h/; nasals /n m ng/; trill /r/ and lateral /l/; and glides/w/ and /y/.
| labial | alveolar | velar | glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| plosive | p | t | k | ' |
| b | d | g | ||
| fricative | s | h | ||
| nasal | m | n | ng | |
| liquid | r | |||
| l | ||||
| approximant | w | y |
The glottal fricative /h/ is very lightly articulated. It occurs in both word-initial and word-medial positions. Words which begin with a glottal fricative can be difficult to distinguish from vowel-initial forms, which actually begin with a glottal stop.
| ai ‘clothing louse’ | hai ‘boat’ |
| ar ‘root’ | har ‘for you’ |
| abbang ‘shake’ | habbang ‘village’ |
Consonants /p t k b d ɡ s m n l/ contrast in length with longer (geminate) counterparts (written double).
| duba ‘slippery’ | dubba ‘push’ |
| dake ‘now’ | dakke ‘dry pandanus’ |
| dala ‘ripe’ | dalla ‘tomorrow’ |
| asi ‘roof thatch’ | assi ‘bite you’ |
| wenang ‘old man’ | wannang ‘near’ |
Read more about this topic: Western Pantar Language
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