Phonology
Consonants
The following table displays all the consonants in Luchazi:Gerhard Kubik, 2006, ''Tusona: Luchazi Ideographs : a Graphic Tradition of West-Central Africa'', pp. 300, 303 : Occur rarely, may only exist in loanwords. The position of the speech-organs in producing the consonants is different from the positions taken in producing the similar sounds in European languages. T and D, for example, are lower than in English but higher than in Portuguese. L is flatter-tongued than in either English or Portuguese. The language contains many consonantal glides, including the prenasalized plosives and the voiceless alveolar sibilant affricate (the ts sound).Vowels
The close front vowel (i), when occurring before another vowel, becomes a semi-consonant and is written y, unless it is immediately preceded by a consonant, when it remains i. Examples: yange, viange. The vowels have the Continental or Italian values. They are shorter when unstressed and are prolonged when doubled or when stressed at the end of a word. * The vowel a is Long when accented, as ''a'' in ''tata, nana''. Short when unstressed or before two consonants or ''y'' or ''s'' and in monosyllabic adverbs, as ''a'' in ''tata, paya, asa, hanga''. Prolonged when doubled or stressed at the end of a word or syllable. Example: ''ku laako''. * The vowel e is Long when accented, as ''a'' in ''heta, seza''. Short when unstressed, as ''a'' in ''hete, seze''. Short with the value of ''e'' in ''henga, lenda'' before two consonants. Exceptions are hembo and membo (due to coalescence of vowels). Many words derived from Portuguese have the short vowel though not followed by two consonants. Examples: ''pena, papelo, luneta, ngehena,'' etc. Prolonged when stressed at the end of a word. * The vowel i is Long when accented, as ''e'' in ''tina, sika''. Short when unstressed or before two consonants, as ''e'' in ''citi, linga''. In monosyllabics it is short, as ''i'' in ''it''. Examples: ni, ndi. Prolonged when stressed. Examples: ti, fui. * The vowel o is Long when accented, as ''o'' in ''sota, koka''. Short when unstressed, as ''o'' in ''soko, loto''. Short, with value of ''o'' in ''onga, yoya, kosa, luozi, ndo'', before two consonants or y or s, and sometimes before z and in some monosyllables. The o is long in ''zoza'' and ''ngozi''. Sometimes prolonged when stressed at the end of a word. Example: ''to''. * The vowel u is Long when accented, as ''u'' in ''tuta, fula''. Short, when unstressed or before two consonants or before s, as ''u'' in ''futuka, mbunga, kusa''.Orthography
Luchazi is written using the Latin alphabet, with most characters representing the same sound as in English, with some exceptions. c is pronounced like ''ch'' in ''church'', n followed by k or g is always nasal like ''ng'' in ''ring'', the sound of v is bilabial instead of labiodental.Emil Pearson, "Luchazi Grammar", pp. 5Alphabet
* A - [a/aː] * B - [β] * C/Ch - [t͡ʃ/t͡ʃʰ] * D - [d/d̪/ð] * E - [ɛ/e/ɛː] * F - [f] * G - [g] * H - [h/x] * I - [i/iː] * J - [d͡ʒ] * K - [k] * L - [l/ɭ] * M - [m] * N - [n] * Ny - [ɲ] * O - [ɔ/ɔː] * P - [p] * R - [ɹ] * S - [s] * Sh - [ʃ] * T - [t/t̪/θ], [tʲ~t͡s] before [i] * U - [u/uː] * W - [w] * Y - [j] * Z - [z] D, G, J, R, and Sh only exist in loanwords.Other letters
* ai - [aɪ̯] * au - [aʊ̯] * ei - [eɪ̯] * ia - [i̯a] * ie - [i̯e] * io - [i̯o] * iu - [i̯u] * kh - [kʰ] * mb - [mb] * mph - [mpʰ] * nch - [ɲt͡ʃʰ] * nd - [ⁿd] * ng - [ŋg/ŋ] * nj - [ɲd͡ʒ] * nk - [ŋkʰ] * nt - [ⁿtʰ] * ph - [pʰ] * th - [tʰ] * ua - [u̯a] * ue - [u̯e] * ui - [u̯i] * uo - [u̯o]References
{{Authority control Chokwe-Luchazi languages Languages of Angola