v Kirya consonants resemble most Central
Chadic inventories
v One
of the more surprising sounds is the retroflex r, /ɽ/, which is not recorded for other languages in the region. It is not a
true retroflex but pronounced
with the tongue towards the alveolar ridge.
v /’l/, /’m/,
/’w/ and /ƴ/ are part of a
preglottalised series. Preglottalised
phonemes are only found in initial position or as the second element in compounds. Hoffmann (1963) regarded
/’w/ and /ƴ/ as
distinct phonemes in Marghi, where they have a similar distribution.
vThere
is no evidence for two Higi phonemes, the ‘nasalised nose twang’ (ŋ̌) and the ‘flapped
voiced fricative’ (v̌).
vThere
is no convincing example of long or geminated consonants despite a tendency to transcribe these
orthographically.
vFali of Kirya has
homorganic nasals, realised as m- before labials, labio-dentals and glottals, as n- before all other
sounds and as –ŋ- word-medially
before velars.