Phonology
Ugaritic has 28 consonantal phonemes, including two semivowels. And eight vowel phonemes (three short vowels and five long vowels): a ā i ī u ū ē ō. (ē and ō only occur as long vowels and are the result of monophthongization of the diphthongs “ay” and “aw” respectively).
| Labial | Interdental | Dental/Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | |||||||||
| Plosive | b | d | ɡ | ||||||||
| p | t | tˤ | k | q | ʔ | ||||||
| Fricative | ð | ðˤ | z | ʒ | ɣ | ʕ | |||||
| θ | s | sˤ | ʃ | x | ħ | h | |||||
| Trill | r | ||||||||||
| Approximant | w | l | j | ||||||||
The voiced velar fricative /ɣ/ occurs as a late variant of the emphatic voiced interdental /ðˤ/.
The following table shows Proto-Semitic phonemes and their correspondences among Ugaritic, Arabic and Tiberian Hebrew:
| Proto-Semitic | Ugaritic | Arabic | Tiberian Hebrew | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| b | b | ب | b | בּ | b |
| p | p | ف | f | פּ | p |
| ḏ | ḏ | ذ | ḏ | ז | z |
| ṯ | ṯ | ث | ṯ | שׁ | š |
| ṱ | ḓ | ظ | ẓ | צ | ṣ |
| d | d | د | d | דּ | d |
| t | t | ت | t | תּ | t |
| ṭ | ṭ | ط | ṭ | ט | ṭ |
| š | š | س | s | שׁ | š |
| z | z | ز | z | ז | z |
| s | s | س | s | ס | s |
| ṣ | ṣ | ص | ṣ | צ | ṣ |
| l | l | ل | l | ל | l |
| ś | š | ش | š | שׂ | ś → |
| ṣ́ | ṣ | ض | ḍ → | צ | ṣ |
| g | g | ج | ǧ → | גּ | g |
| k | k | ك | k | כּ | k |
| q | q | ق | q | ק | q |
| ġ | ġ | غ | ġ | ע | ʻ |
| ḫ | ḫ | خ | ḫ | ח | ḥ |
| ʻ | ʻ | ع | ʻ | ע | ʻ |
| ḥ | ḥ | ح | ḥ | ח | ḥ |
| ʼ | ʼ | ء | ʼ | א | ʼ |
| h | h | ه | h | ה | h |
| m | m | م | m | מ | m |
| n | n | ن | n | נ | n |
| r | r | ر | r | ר | r |
| w | w | و | w | ו | w |
| y | y | ي | y | י | y |
| Proto-Semitic | Ugaritic | Arabic | Tiberian Hebrew | ||
Read more about this topic: Ugaritic Grammar