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Siraiki (Saraiki)

Phylum: Indo-European

Genus: Indo-Aryan

Lat/lon: 30.185166, 71.483736

ISO code: skr

Consonants

Basic short series

bilabiallabio-velarlabio-dentaldentalalveolarpostalveolarretroflexpalatalvelarglottal
stopp, pʰ, b, bʰ, ɓt̪, t̪ʰ, d̪, d̪ʰʈ, ʈʰ, ɖ, ɖʰc, cʰ, ɟ, ɟʰ, ʄk, kʰ, g, gʰ, ɠ
tapɾ, ɾʰɽ, ɽʰ
fricativefs, zʃx, ɣh
nasalm, mʰn, nʰɲŋ
approximantw, wʰj
lateral approximantl, lʰ

Short nasalised series

retroflex
tapɽ̃, ɽ̃ʰ

Vowels

Basic short series

frontcentralback
closeiu
near-closeɪʊ
close-mideo
open-midʌ
near-openæ
opena

Short nasalised series

frontcentralback
close
close-mid
near-openæ̃
open

Diphthongs

/ʌi/, /ai/, /ae/, /aæ/, /ʌo/, /ao/, /aũ/, /ɪã/, /iã/, /e̯ã/, /ea/, /ia/, /ɪi/, /e̯æ/, /e̯ʊ/, /ɪu/, /ɪũ/, /iũ/, /iu/, /e̯ũ/, /eũ/, /ɪo/, /io/, /e̯o/, /eo/, /ʊa/, /ua/, /oa/, /ʊi/, /ui/, /oi/, /ʊe/, /uẽ/, /oe/, /uæ/, /oæ/

Licit initial clusters

{t,d,dʰ}r

Source: Shackle, Christopher. 1976. The Siraiki languages of central Pakistan. A reference grammar. London: School of Oriental and African Studies.

Comments: /ɪʌ/ occurs in loans. Triphthongs were analysed as combinations of diphthongs and simple vowels. The inventory of diphthongs may be incomplete. “There is a weak homorganic nasal glide after nasalised peripheral [a, e, æ, i, u, o] vowels and before plosives” (p. 17). Nasalised dipthongs are nasalised throughout. /ɽ̃/ is phonemically treated as /ɳ/, but is described as a nasalised flap phonetically. sC initial clusters appear in loans. “The tonic syllable is distinguished principally by length from its neighbours, either by the lengthening of peripheral vowels or by the gemination of consonants following centralised vowels” (p. 28).

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