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So

Phylum: Mon-Khmer

Genus: Katuic

Lat/lon: 17.356986, 104.269954

ISO code: sss

Consonants

Basic short series

bilabiallabio-velarlabio-dentalalveolarpalatalvelarglottal
stopp, pʰ, bt, tʰ, dc, cʰk, kʰʔ
tapɾ
fricativefsh
nasalmnɲŋ
approximantwj
lateral approximantl

Vowels

Basic short series

frontcentralback
closeiɯ, u
close-mideɤ, o
open-midɛʌ, ɔ
openaɑ

Long series

frontcentralback
closeɯː, uː
close-midɤː, oː
open-midɛːʌː, ɔː
openɑː

Short breathy voiced series

frontcentralback
closeɯ̤, ṳ
close-midɤ̤, o̤
open-midɛ̤ʌ̤, ɔ̤
openɑ̤

Long breathy voiced series

frontcentralback
closei̤ːɯ̤ː, ṳː
close-mide̤ːɤ̤ː, o̤ː
open-midɛ̤ːʌ̤ː, ɔ̤ː
opena̤ːɑ̤ː

Diphthongs

/ia/, /ɯa/, /ua/, /i̤a/, /ɯ̤a/, /ṳa/

Licit initial clusters

{p,b,t,tʰ,k}{l,r}

Licit finals

p, t, c, k, ʔ, h, m, n, ɲ, ŋ, ɾ, w, l, j, {w,j}{h,ʔ}, ɲc

Licit syllabic templates

(C)CV(C)(C)

Source: Brian Migliazza, A grammar of So—A Mon-Khmer language of Northeast Thailand, PhD thesis, Mahidol inversity, 1998

Comments: /f/ is mostly found in loans form Thai. /w/ and /j/ are sometimes in free variation. /ia ua/ (in both registers) are in variation with [iɤ uɤ]. Breathy registered vowels ‘generally’ have a low-rising pitch. For a related language western Bru, /wʔ and /jʔ/ are treated in (Tebow and Lew 2013) not as clusters but as glottalised segments; the authors also posit prenasalised phonemic segments where Migliazza posits syllabic nasals in minor syllables.

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