CHAPTERONE CONSONANTS 1.1. Phoneme inventory Labials Dental/ Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyngal Laryngal Alveolar Stops/affricates Unvoiced p t c k q Voiced b d j g Emphatic ! Fricatives Unvoiced / 1 x I; h s Voiced (/ g c z Emphatic ~ rj Nasal m n Lateral Tap/trill r Approximant w y The consonants I/I, Irjl and /CI are found only in loan-words, the first two mainly from Arabic and the third mainly from Kurdish. A large number of such loans have become integrated into the language, e.g. k-/eti 'they flow past' (S:97), b-flan bela 'in such-and-such a house' (F:67), mfil;i 'they exhale' (Poems 14); rarjya 'content' (F:73), murjba{la 'he proved' F:117), k-I;arjri 'they attend' (K:41); cu-mandi 'nothing' (F:3), dewarci 'pedlar' (F:22), pacpacoka 'very small' (K:61), cayxana 'tea-shop' (S:104), cmakla 'he wilted' (F:33). 26 CHAPTERONE 1.2. Notes on the phonetic realization 0/ the consonants Iml This consonant is sometimes slightly pharyngalized, especially in the environment of lul and Iwl, e.g. Yu-k-mwunsax [?ukn;I\V{}l}.sax] 'we have a good time' (K:6). In cases where the word does not contain Iwl, a labial glide is sometimes heard before a following vowel, e.g. Yumma [?u~~~~] 'a hundred' (K:31). Ibl This is usually a voiced bilabial stop [b], but occasionally after a vowel it is realized as a voiced bilabial fricative [ß], e.g. da-halra [dre'ßa8ra] 'for behind' (B:29). Iwl In most cases this is a labio-velar [w]. In the environment of Iyl it is sometimes realized as a labio-palatal [q], e.g. maywsa ['mejqJre] 'she dries'. Idl In some sporadic cases in fast speech this is realized as a fricative after a vowel, e.g. mad?Jrha [m;;,'ö;;,rh;;,] 'he returns them' (F:12). The consonant Idl and its fricative counterpart 141 are, nevertheless, distinct phonemes, as is shown by minimal pairs such as guda 'wall' : gu4a 'skin for churning'. Inl When adjacent to a velar or uvular consonant, Inl is genearlly realized as a nasal velar [1]], e.g. kan k-saqUha ['kre:1] k"freq'li:hI] 'ifthey take them' (F:6). Ij/ This is normally pronounced as a voiced affricate [d3]. When it is in contact with a following consonant, the stop component of this is sometimes elided, e.g. jbOni ['3bo:ni:] 'my will' (Gospels 53), k-ajbali [kre3'bre:li:] 'It pleases me' (= I like it) (Play 167). .