Western Pantar Language - Sound System

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’

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