Segmental Phonology and Orthography
There are slightly different standardised spellings used in the Northern Territory and Western Australia compared to South Australia, for example with the first two writing ⟨w⟩ between ⟨a⟩ and ⟨u⟩ combinations and a ⟨y⟩ between ⟨a⟩ and ⟨i⟩, which SA doesn't use.
Pitjantjatjara has the following consonant inventory, written as shown in bold:
| Peripheral | Laminal | Apical | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilabial | Velar | Palatal | Alveolar | Retroflex | |
| Plosive | p ~ | k ~ | tj ~ | t ~ | ṯ ~ |
| Nasal | m | ng | ny | n | ṉ |
| Trill/Tap | r ~ | ||||
| Lateral | ly | l | ḻ | ||
| Approximant | w | y | ṟ ~ | ||
Pitjantjatjara has three vowels:
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i, ii | u, uu | |
| Open | a, aa |
Pitjantjatjara vowels have a length contrast which is indicated by writing them doubled. In the past, a colon ⟨:⟩ was sometimes used to indicate long vowels: ⟨a:⟩, ⟨i:⟩, ⟨u:⟩.
Read more about this topic: Pitjantjatjara Language
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