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Nanai (Hezhen)

Phylum: Tungusic

Genus: Southern Tungusic

Lat/lon: 49.281267, 136.462078

ISO code: gld

Consonants

Basic short series

bilabialalveolarpalatalvelar
stoppʰ, btʰ, dk, g
trillr
fricativeβx
affricatets, dz
nasalmnɲŋ
approximantj
lateral approximantl

Vowels

Basic short series

frontcentralback
closeiu
near-closeɪ
close-mido
midə
opena

Long series

frontcentralback
close
near-closeɪː
close-mid
midəː
open

Short nasalised series

frontcentralback
close
near-closeɪ̃
close-mid
midə̃
open

Diphthongs

/iə/, /iu/, /ɪa/, /ɪo/, /əi/, /əu/, /aɪ/, /ao/, /ui/, /uə/, /oɪ/, /oa/, /iə̃/, /iũ/, /ɪã/, /ɪõ/, /əĩ/, /əũ/, /aɪ̃/, /aõ/, /uĩ/, /uə̃/, /oɪ̃/, /oã/

Licit initial clusters

Ø

Licit syllabic templates

(C)V(C)(C)

Source: V.A. Avrorin. 1959. Grammatika nanajskogo jazyka. Vol. 1. Moscow: Akademia Nauk SSSR.

Comments: /j/ is not found syllable- and word-finally. Nasal vowels are found only word-finally. /ɪ̃/ is rare because it often becomes /ĩ/. Long nasal vowels are impossible on the surface because word-finally long vowels are shortened. However, they may be posited underlyingly based on alternations (ulẽ ‘good’ > uleːɲdʒi ‘well’).

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