| Bilabial | Dental | Post-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasals | m | n | ŋ | |||
| Plosives | p b | t d | k g | |||
| Affricates | t̠ʃ d̠ʒ | |||||
| Fricatives | s z | ʃ ʒ | (x)¹ | h¹ | ||
| Tap/trill | r/ɾ² | |||||
| “Glides” | (ɹ)³ l | j | w | |||
| Ejectives | k’ |
<aside> <img src="/icons/asterisk_lightgray.svg" alt="/icons/asterisk_lightgray.svg" width="40px" /> 1. Varies by dialect. Allophones in most dialects, usually /x/ within morpheme and after coda, /h/ elsewhere. 2. Where present, /r/ and /ɾ/ are in free variation, where /r/ can be emphatic. 3. Meriteji has a rhotic dialect. In such dialects, /r/, /ɾ/, and coda /l/ are realized as /ɹ/
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| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i ḭ | ɯ~u ṵ | |
| Mid | e~ɛ ḛ | ɤ~o | |
| Open | ä a̰ |
<aside> <img src="/icons/asterisk_lightgray.svg" alt="/icons/asterisk_lightgray.svg" width="40px" /> All vowel variations are in free variation, with unspecified differences in dialect.
Diphthongs include /ei/, /ai/, and /ɑu/. /o/ is treated as a dipthong for historic reasons (was pronounced /eu/).
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(C1)(G)V(C2).
C1 includes /p/ /b/ /t/ /d/ /k/ /g/ /m/ /n/ /ŋ/ /h/ /x/ /s/ /z/ /ʃ/ /ʒ/ /t̠ʃ/ /d̠ʒ/
G includes /j/ /w/ /r/ /l/
V includes all vowels.
C2 includes /m/ /n/ /ŋ/ /s/ /l/ /t/ /k’/
Nasal coda assimilates to /m/ /n/ /ŋ/ based on location of following consonant; /n/ if none
Stop coda is /k’/ at the end of an utterance/morpheme, /t/ elsewhere
Double coda/onsets with matching phonemes break natural morphology, except for the nasal ~, where it is not pronounced. Under the same morphology rules, a coda cannot be followed by a null consonant.
| /j/ | /w/ | /r/ | /l/ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| /p/ | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| /t/ | Y, →/tʃ/ | N | S³ | S³ |
| /k/ | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| /b/ | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| /d/ | Y, -> /dʒ/ | N | S³ | S³ |
| /g/ | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| /m/ | Y | Y | N | N |
| /n/ | Y | Y | N | N |
| /ŋ/ | Y | Y | N | N |
| /h/ | Y | Y | N | N |
| /s/ | Y, -> /ʃ/ | Y | N | N |
| /z/ | Y, -> /ʒ/ | Y | N | N |
| /t̠ʃ/ | N | N | N | N |
| /d̠ʒ/ | N | N | N | N |
| Ø | Y | Y | Y | Y |
<aside> <img src="/icons/asterisk_lightgray.svg" alt="/icons/asterisk_lightgray.svg" width="40px" /> 1. /s/ + /j/ is not */sj/, it becomes just /ʃ/ /z/ + /j/ is not */zj/, it becomes just /ʒ/
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The four codas are greatly allophonic: they very frequently assimilate to the following onset. There are various rules for what combinations are possible, what they result in, and how to romanize such combinations.