EURPhon: Dzongkha

Phylum: Sino-Tibetan

Genus: Tibetic

Lat/lon: 27.466667, 89.641667

ISO code: dzo

Consonants

Basic short series

	bilabial	labio-velar	alveolar	retroflex	alveolo-palatal	palatal	velar	glottal
stop	p, pʰ, b		t, tʰ, d	ʈ, ʈʰ, ɖ			k, kʰ, g
trill			r
fricative			s, z		ɕ, ʑ			h
affricate			ts, tsʰ, dz		tɕ, tɕʰ, dʑ
nasal	m		n			ɲ	ŋ
approximant		w				j
lateral approximant			l, l̥

Vowels

Basic short series

	front	back
close	i	u
close-mid	e	o
open		ɑ

Long series

	front	back
close	iː	uː
near-close	ʏː
close-mid	eː, øː	oː
open-mid	ɛː
open		ɑː

Long nasalised series

	front	back
close	ĩː	ũː
close-mid	ẽː	õː
open		ɑ̃ː

Diphthongs

/ai/, /au/, /aːu/, /iu/, /eu/, /ɛu/, /ou/, /øu/

Tones

55, 53, 33, 31

Licit finals

p, m, n

Licit syllabic templates

(С)(С)V(C)

Source: Michailovsky, Boyd; and Martine Mazaudon. 1989. Lost syllables and tone contour in Dzongkha (Bhutan). In Sprigg, Richard Keith, David Bradley, Eugénie J. A. Henderson, and Martine Mazaudon (eds.) Prosodic analysis and Asian linguistics: to honour R.K. Sprigg. Canberra, A.C.T., Australia: Dept. of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, 115–136.

Comments: Initial clusters consisting of bilabials coupled with [tɕ, tɕʰ, dʑ] (with voice harmony). Low tone coincides with breathy voice on the vowel.