<<< Home page

Karbi (Hills)

Phylum: Sino-Tibetan

Genus: Ungrouped

Lat/lon: 25.840397, 93.431684

ISO code: mjw

Consonants

Basic short series

bilabialalveolarpalatalvelarglottal
stopb, p, pʰd, t, tʰɟ, ck, kʰ
tapɾ
fricativeβsh
nasalmnŋ
lateral approximantl

Vowels

Basic short series

frontcentralback
closeiu
close-mideo
open-midɛɔ
opena

Diphthongs

/ai/, /oi/, /ui/

Tones

11, 33ʔ, 55

Licit initial clusters

{p,pʰ,k,kʰ}{l,r}

Licit finals

p, t, k, m, n, ŋ, ɾ

Licit syllabic templates

C(C)V(C)

Source: Konnerth, Linda. 2014. A Grammar of Karbi. PhD thesis. University of Oregon.

Comments: /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ are marginal and occur only in a handful of morphemes. Additionally, a marginal segment /oʷ/ is posited. Vowel-initial syllables acquire a non-phonemic initial glottal stop. Diphthongs only occur in open syllables. The low tone corresponds to the average speaking pitch. The functional load of tone is low.

Contributed by: Dmitry Nikolaev (dnikolaev@fastmail.com)