View source for Appendix:G'Vunna pronunciation

{{LangBar|G'Vunna}}

The [[G'Vunna language]] has 24 consonants, 8 vowels, and no glides.

== Standard Romanization ==

{| class="wikitable" cellpadding="5"
|-
! Letter
! IPA
! English example
! Notes
|-
| '''a'''
| a
| f'''a'''ther
| 
|-
| '''b'''
| b
| '''b'''og
|
|-
| '''ch'''
| tʃ
| ea'''ch'''
|
|-
| '''d'''
| d
| '''d'''og
|
|-
| '''dh'''
| ð
| '''th'''is
|
|-
| '''e'''
| e
| b'''e'''t
|
|-
| '''ǝ'''
| ǝ
| sof'''a'''
|
|-
| '''f'''
| f
| '''f'''ood
|
|-
| '''g'''
| g
| '''g'''ood
|
|-
| '''gh'''
| ɣ~ʁ
| -
| Like French '''r''' in '''''r'''ouge''.
|-
| '''i'''
| i
| mach'''i'''ne
| 
|-
| '''j'''
| dʒ
| '''j'''am
|
|-
| '''k'''
| k
| s'''k'''ill
|
|-
| '''kh'''
| x~χ
| -
| Like German '''ch''' in ''Bu'''ch'''''.
|-
| '''l'''
| l
| '''l'''eft
|
|-
| '''m'''
| m
| '''m'''an
|
|-
| '''n'''
| n
| '''n'''o
| 
|-
| '''ng'''
| ŋ
| si'''ng'''
| 
|-
| '''o'''
| o
| t'''o'''te
| 
|-
| '''ö'''
| ø
| -
| Like German '''ö''' in ''K'''ö'''ln''.
|-
| '''p'''
| p
| s'''p'''an
|
|-
| '''q'''
| q
| -
| Like a [k] but further back in the mouth.
|-
| '''r'''
| ʀ
| -
| 
|-
| '''s'''
| s
| '''s'''ee
| 
|-
| '''sh'''
| ʃ
| '''sh'''eep
| 
|-
| '''t'''
| t
| s'''t'''op
| 
|-
| '''th'''
| θ
| '''th'''in
| 
|-
| '''u'''
| u
| r'''u'''de
| 
|-
| '''ü'''
| y
| -
| Like German '''ü''' in ''f'''ü'''r''.
|-
| '''v'''
| v
| '''v'''oice
|
|-
| '''z'''
| z
| '''z'''oo
| 
|-
| '''zh'''
| ʒ
| a'''z'''ure
| 
|}

Notes:
* Doubled consonants, or geminates, occur frequently in G'Vunna. To pronounce a doubled consonant, simply pronounce it twice. You might think of it as lingering over the consonant. Think of the "s" sound you pronounce in "Miss Sally". It's a longer "s" than if you pronounce the similar phrase "Miss Ally". The same goes for the doubled consonants of G'Vunna. One important note about the romanization: If a digraph (e.g. kh, gh, etc.) is doubled, only the first letter will be doubled (hence, kkh not khkh). The consonant is pronounced like a doubled consonant, though, as actual combinations such as k followed by kh are impossible.

== Phonetics ==

=== Consonants ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
!
! Labial !! Dental !! Alveolar !! Palatal !! Velar !! Uvular
|-
! Plosive
|| p<br/>b || || t<br/>d || || k<br/>g || q
|-  
! Affricate
|| || || || tʃ ⟨ch⟩<br/>dʒ ⟨j⟩ || || 
|-  
! Fricative
|| f<br/>v || θ ⟨th⟩<br/>ð ⟨dh⟩ || s<br/>z || ʃ ⟨sh⟩<br/>ʒ ⟨zh⟩ || x ⟨kh⟩<br/>ɣ ⟨gh⟩ ||
|-  
! Nasal
|| m || || n || ɲ ⟨ny⟩ || ŋ ⟨ng⟩ ||
|-  
! Approximant
|| || || l || j ⟨y⟩ || || ʀ ⟨r⟩
|}

=== Vowels ===
G'Vunna uses [ǝ] as a phoneme, with equal status to all the other vowels. The vowel system is summarized in the following table:
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! rowspan=2 | 
! colspan=2 | Front !! rowspan=2 | Central !! rowspan=2 | Back
|-
! <small>Unrounded</small> !! <small>Rounded</small>
|-
! High
| i || y ⟨ü⟩ || || u
|-
! Mid
| e || ø ⟨ö⟩ || ə ⟨ǝ⟩ || o
|- 
! Low
| colspan=2 | || a ||
|}

G'Vunna has high-low {{wl|vowel harmony}}, with the following pairs:

* i ~ e
* y ~ ø
* u ~ o
* ǝ ~ a

This means that all G'Vunna words contain vowels only from either the former or the latter set. 

[[Category:Pronunciation by language]]
[[Category:G'Vunna language|Pronunciation]]