Phonology

Steele, Mary and Gretchen Weed. 1966. Collected Field Reports on the Phonology of Konkomba. (Collected Language Notes, 3) Legon: Institute of African Studies.

Consonants

Bilabial Labiodental Alveolar Postalveolar Palatal Velar Labial-velar
Stop Voiceless p t k k͡p
Voiced b d ɡ ɡ͡b
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ ŋ͡m
Fricative Voiceless f s
Voiced
Approximant w y **
Lateral Approximant l
Trill r

** IPA symbol [j]

Orthography note:

tʃ - is written as ch in words like cha - go, kichɔk - axe
dʒ - is written as j in words like uja - man, ji - eat
k͡p - is written as kp in words in words like kpa - have, likpuul - funeral
ɡ͡b - is written as gb in words like gbaa - beat, gbin - tether, tie
ɲ - is written as ny in words like nyi - know, unyoon - bird
ŋ - is maintained as ŋ in words like ŋa - do, liŋuul - anger
ŋ͡m - is written as ŋm in words like ŋmee - write, uŋmal - moon

Vowels

Front Central Back
High i u
Close-mid e o
Open-mid ɔ
Low a
Front Central Back
High
Close-mid
Open-mid ɛː ɔː
Low
Front Central Back
High ĩ ũ
Close-mid õ
Open-mid ɔ̃
Low ã

Tone

High tone is marked with the letter h following a vowel in cases where it is necessary to separate meaning.

Examples:

upii - woman, upiih - sheep

unyoon - bird, unyoohn - scorpion

But tone is also used grammatically in

Waa buen kisaak - He did not go to farm
Waah buen kisaak na ... - When he went to farm ...