1. Phonemic inventory
1.1. Consonants
t k ʔ m n ŋ s l w
/t n l/ are dental, while /s/ is laminal alveolar.
1.2. Vowels
i u ə ɔ a
2. Phonotactics
2.1. Syllable structure
The basic syllable structure of January 6th is (C)V(C). The onset can be any consonant except /ʔ/. The coda can be any nasal or either of /k ʔ/. Syllables with nasal codas only occur word-finally and before syllables with an /s/ onset. Plosive codas occur word-finally and before syllables with any onset except /l w/.
2.1.1. Syllabification
January 6th prefers CV syllables whenever possible, and will rearrange its syllable structure accordingly. Cf. kug /kuŋ/ 'forest', kuga /ku.ŋa/ 'forest (ergative)'.
2.2. Phonological processes and alternations
2.2.1. Vowels
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Two or more adjacent identical vowels are realized as a long vowel.
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Stressed /ə/ is raised to [ɨ] when the following syllable contains [i].
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[ə] is elided immediately preceding a different vowel, elongating it.
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/i u ɔ/ are realized as [e o ə] in unstressed non-final syllables in polysyllabic words (thus the contrast between /ɔ/ and /ə/ is neutralized in those conditions). The exception is when the phonetic context would make this vowel long, such as in the word sagoumòa 'you will love me', which is pronounced [ˈsaŋuːməʔa] (from underlying /saŋəuməʔa/ < //saŋɔumɔʔa//).
2.2.2. Consonants
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/ŋ/ is realized as [g] word-initially.
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/s/ is realized as [ɕ] before [i].
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/l/ is realized as [ɾ] before /ə u ɔ/ in final syllables in words with three or more syllables.
2.2.3. Consonant clusters across syllable boundaries
Of these assimilations and alternations, all of them apply to word-internal clusters, while only the first two happen regularly (and are mandatory) also across word boundaries.
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A cluster of /ʔ/ and any nasal is realized as a long nasal, and /ʔs/ is realized as [sː] ([ɕː] before [i]).
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/ʔ/ followed by either of /t k/ is realized merely as creaky voice on the preceding vowel.
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/kŋ/ is realized as [ŋː].
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A cluster of /k/ and a plosive simplifies to the second plosive, geminated.
3. Prosody
Stress is on the first syllable of a word.
4. Ortography
The orthography of January 6th is largely phonemic, that is, there is a 1:1 correspondence between phonemes and letters.
4.1. Consonants
The consonants are represented by their IPA symbols, except:
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/ʔ/ is indicated by a grave accent on the preceding vowel. However, in the interlinear glosses, it will be represented by its IPA symbol for clarity when necessary.
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/ŋ/ is represented by <g>.
4.2. Vowels
The vowels are represented by their IPA symbols, except:
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/ə/ is represented by <e>.
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/ɔ/ is represented by <o>.
5. Morphophonemic alternations
The absence of /t/ in syllable codas is due to a shift from [t] to [k] in those positions. There are thus bare stems ending in -k that change this consonant to (an onset) -t- when a morpheme starting with a vowel is appended to it.
A syllable with a nasal coda elides this consonant when a morpheme with an onset consonant other than /s/ is appended to it (such as the plural suffix -ne).