Appendix:Okoki pronunciation

Okoki Language Navigation: Home, Phonology, Grammar, Vocabulary

This appendix provides an overview of the phonology, phonotactics and romanization of the Okoki language spoken by squirrels. The Okoki language has 15 consonants, 8 short vowels including 3 nasal ones, 3 long vowels, and 2 glides.

Standard Romanization

Letter	IPA	English example	Notes
’	ʔ	The sound in the middle of "uh-oh"
a	a	father
ã	ã	—	A nasal vowel. Pronounced roughly like the vowel in French danse.
aa	aː	like a, but longer
b	b	bother
d	d	dog
e	e	bait
ẽ	ẽ	—	A nasal vowel. Pronounced roughly like the vowel in French prince.
f	f	feather
g	g	good
h	h	ham
i	i	machine
ii	iː	like i, but longer
k	k	skill
kh	x	—	Pronounced like the ch in German Buch.
l	l	left
m	m	man
n	n	no
o	o	moat
õ	õ	—	A nasal vowel. Pronounced roughly like the vowel in French bon.
p	p	span
r	ɾ	battle	A tap like in English battle or Spanish pero.
s	s	see
t	t	stop
u	u	rude
uu	uː	like u, but longer
w	w	war
y	j	yawn

Phonetics

Consonants

		Labial	Coronal	Dorsal	Glottal
Nasal		m	n
Plosive	voiceless	p	t	k	' [ʔ]
	voiced	b	d	g
Fricative		f	s	kh [x]	h
Approximant		w	l	y [j]
Tap			r [ɾ]

Vowels

		Front	Central	Back
Close	short	i		u
	long	ii [iː]		uu [uː]
Mid	oral	e		o
	nasal	ẽ		õ
Open	short		a
	long		aa [aː]
	nasal		ã

Stress

Stress uniformly falls on each word's first syllable.

Phonotactics

Okoki's syllables are all open and may start with up to one consonant, the syllable structure is therefore (C)V(V). Vowel sequences are allowed but there are no diphthongs, nasal vowels cannot precede other vowels, and null onsets contrast with /ʔ/, even word-initially.