Atti

Consonants
All phonemes, with the exception of geminated stops) have geminated counterparts (/p/ vs. /pː/), which contrast phonemically with their simple counterparts. In Latin script, geminate sounds are signaled by a double letter.

When preceding or following a voiced consonant, the voiceless /ʃ/ and /s̺/ may be voiced to [ʒ] and [z̺], respectively. This occurs more frequently in informal speech and the rural dialect (to be named).

In the rural dialect, /j/ and /ɹ̺/ may be realized as [ʒ] and [z̺], which was universal in earlier dialects.

Vowels
Vowels, with the exception of the /iː ɪ/, /oː ɔ/ and /eː ɛ/ pairs (which also show a change in vowel quality), all vowels may be geminated. This is shown in Latin script by a double letter, which also signals a pronunciation change in the aforementioned pairs. That is, < o > signals /ɔ/ and signals /oː/.

Some, especially rural, communities may maintain gemination of /i e o/ without a change in vowel quality in ungeminated realizations.

With the exception of /y/, roundness is a feature of back vowels.

There are no diphthongs; vowels in contact are always in hiatus.

Phonotactics
There are two basic syllable structures in Atti. The first is (C)VC(C). In the case of a syllable cluster in the coda, the first phone must be a fricative and the second a (non-aspirated) plosive. Aspirated plosives may only occupy the onset of a syllable. Geminates may only occur in intervocalic contexts.

The second syllable structure is C(C), where the consonantal nucleus is a syllabic fricative or nasal. In practice, only a small set of the fricatives /β p/ and one nasal /m/ are found in this context, always in monosyllabic words, like vt /βt̪/ "again" or mm /mː/ "yes."