Phonology
Consonants
The voiced velar stop (ɡᶫ) is pronounced with lateral release. Doble (1987) describes both /k/ and /ɡᶫ/ as being labialized ʷ, ɡᶫʷafter the back vowels /o, u/ (i.e. ''okei'' 'they', ''euga'' 'more'), with ''g'' having 'varying' degrees of the lateral. Staroverov & Tebay (2019) describe /ɡᶫ/ as being velar lateral �ᶫbefore front vowels and uvular non-lateral �ʶbefore non-front vowels. When lateral, there is usually a stop onset, but occasionally just �is heard. /j/ is a 'more palatalized ' (perhaps or ) before the high front vowel /i/ (i.e. ''yina'' 'insect').Vowels
Both Doble (1987) and Staroverov & Tebay (2019) describe five vowel qualities. Long vowels and diphthongs are analyzed as sequences.Tone
Ekari has pitch accent. One syllable in a word may have a high tone, contrasting with words without a high tone. If the vowel is long or a diphthong and not at the end of the word, the high tone is phonetically rising. CV words have no tone contrast. CVV words may be mid/low or high. (In all of these patterns, here and following, initial C is optional.) Words of the following shapes may have a contrastive high tone on the final syllable: CVCV, CVCVV. Words of the following shapes may have either a rising or a falling tone on the first long syllable: CVVCV, CVVCVV, CVCVVCVV, CVVCVCV (rare), CVVCVCVV (rare). The following word shapes do not have contrastive tone: CVCVCV, CVCVVCV, CVCVCVV, and words of 4 or more syllables.References
Bibliography
* Doble, Marion (1962). "Essays on Kapauku grammar". ''Nieuw Guinea Studiën''. 6: 152-5, 211-8, 279-98. * * *External links
Materials on Ekari are included in the open access Arthur Capell collections held by Paradisec: