Sounds of Navajo
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Here is an introduction to the phonemic sound system of Navajo, in the Navajo orthography and International Phonetic Alphabet (in backslashes).
Vowels
Monophthongs
| Front | Back | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oral | Nasal | Oral | Nasal | |||||
| High | i /i/ | ii /iː/ | į /ɪ̃/ | įį /ĩː/ | ||||
| Mid | e /e/ | e /eː/ | ę /ẽ/ | ęę /ẽː/ | o /o/ | oo /oː/ | ǫ /õ/ | ǫǫ /õː/ |
| Low | a /ɑ/ | aa /ɑː/ | ą /ɑ̃/ | ąą /ɑ̃ː/ | ||||
Diphthongs
| Front | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Vɪ̯ | Vɪ̯ | Vo̯ | |
| High | oi /ʊɪ̯/ | ||
| Mid | ei /eɪ̯/ | ||
| Low | ai /ɑɪ̯/ | ao /ɑo̯/ | |
Consonants
Inventory
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plain | Lateral | Affricate | Plain | Labialized | |||||
| Nasal | m /m/ | n /n/ | |||||||
| Stop | Unaspirated | b /p/ | d /t/ | dl /tɬ/ | dz /ʦ/ | j /ʧ/ | g /k/ | ʼ /ʔ/ | |
| Aspirated | t /tˣ/ | tł /tɬʰ/ | ts /ʦʰ/ | ch /ʧʰ/ | k /kˣ/ | kw /kʷˣ/ | |||
| Ejective | tʼ /tʼ/ | tłʼ /tɬʼ/ | tsʼ /ʦʼ/ | chʼ /ʧʼ/ | kʼ /kʼ/ | ||||
| Fricative | Voiceless | s /s/ | ł /ɬ/ | sh /ʃ/ | h, x /x/ | hw /xʷ/ | |||
| Voiced | z /z/ | l /ɮ~l/ | zh /ʒ/ | gh /ɣ/ | w /ɣʷ~w/ | ||||
| Approximant | y /j/ | ||||||||
See Also
Return to: Main Page, Íiyisíí Naaltsoos
External Links
- Dene Speech Atlas | Joyce McDonough (rochester.edu)
- Navajo phonology - Wikipedia
- E-MELD School of Best Practice: Navajo Phonology (emeld.org)
- Navajo Grammar, Chapter 2: The Sounds (swarthmore.edu)
References
McDonough, Joyce Mary. 2003. The Navajo Sound System. Boston: Springer Science & Business Media. (https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-94-010-0207-3)
McDonough, Joyce. 2014. Dene Speech Atlas. University of Rochester, Department of Linguistics. (http://www.sas.rochester.edu/lin/DeneSpeechAtlas/)