Kihā́mmic/Phonology

This appendix describes the phonological system of the Kihā́mmic language.

See also IPA for Kihā́mmic

Gemination

 * Gemination of consonants occurs almost exclusively due to the two digraphs /kg/ and /gk/ - [kː] and [gː] respectively.
 * The only other place it occurs in Standard Kihā́mmic is when the last consonant in a given word and the first consonant in the following word are the same fricative, nasal or plosive. Such as "án zápôvan núk" [an zapovanːʊk] ("a sharp rock").

Syllabic consonants
Kihā́mmic has seven syllabic consonants, [l̩], [ɫ̩], [m̩], [n̩], [ɾ̩], [z̩] and [s̩]. There are even a few words that do not have vowels in at all:
 * blg [bl̩g] (key)
 * grg [gɾ̩g] (bubble)
 * gzkl [gz̩kɫ̩] (spring [relating to water])

Vowel length
In Kihā́mmic vowel length and is partially independent of stress and intonation. It may in fact change the meaning of a word, compare "lûgá" [luga] ("brush") and "lūgá" [luːga] ("louse").

Diphthongs
Kihā́mmic has fourteen diphthongs: nine falling ([aɪ̯], [aʊ̯], [au̯], [eɪ̯], [eʊ̯], [eu̯], [oɪ̯], [oʊ̯], [ou̯]) and five rising ([wa], [wɛ], [we], [wɪ] and [wi]). The [w◌] in rising diphthongs can also be analysed as [u̯◌].

If a diphthong is stressed the first vowel in the grapheme acquires the stress mark. Hence "bevrói" [bɛvˈɾoɪ̯] (redo) and not "bevroí" or "bevróí".