Isoba/Consonants and Vowels
< Isoba
Isoba has 7 monophthongs (basic vowels), 13 diphthongs (two-vowel combinations), 24 consonants, and 1 pharyngealization phoneme that interacts with nearby phonemes to produce different phonetic results. This page will introduce all 20 vowels and the 24 consonants.
All pronunciation tips in the following table are based on General American English (GenAm) unless otherwise specified.
Vowels
edit| Vowel | Pronunciation | Audio | Phoneme | Notes | Pronunciation Tip |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | [a] | /a/ | a in father is too far back. | No GenAm equivalent; a in Spanish casa | |
| o | [o̞] | /o/ | Can also be [o̞u̯] | ol in cold | |
| u | [u] | /u/ | Can be [ʊ] in indeliberate speech | oo in pool without the offglide | |
| e | [ɨ̞] | /ɨ/ | Can be [ə] in indeliberate speech | e in chicken but more open, though not as open as ir in Australian English bird | |
| i | [i] | /i/ | Can be [ɪ] in indeliberate speech | ee in seed | |
| ö | [ɵ] | /ɵ/ | ö in German schön is too far forward | No GenAm equivalent; ir in New Zealand English bird | |
| eu | [y] | /y/ | Can be [ʉ̞] in indeliberate speech | No GenAm equivalent; ü in German über |
| Vowel | Pronunciation | Audio | Diaphoneme | Notes | Pronunciation Tip |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| au | [ɑu̯] | /au/ | Can be [ɑʊ̯] in indeliberate speech; [ɑ] is an allophone of /a/. | No GenAm equivalent; ao in Mandarin Pinyin | |
| ai | [ai̯] | /ai/ | Can be [aɪ̯] in indeliberate speech | ie in lie | |
| oi | [o̞i̯] | /oi/ | oy in boy | ||
| ua | [wa] | /wa/ | No GenAm equivalent; hua in Spanish marihuana | ||
| uo | [wo̞] | /wo/ | No GenAm equivalent; like uo in Mandarin Pinyin | ||
| ui | [wi] | /wi/ | Can be [wɪ] in indeliberate speech | we | |
| ei | [e̞i̯] | /ei/ | Can be [e] in indeliberate speech | ey in hey | |
| ia | [ja] | /ja/ | No GenAm equivalent; Russian я | ||
| iu | [ju] | /ju/ | No GenAm equivalent; Ju in German Julia | ||
| ie | [je̞] | /je/ | No GenAm equivalent; ie in Mandarin Pinyin | ||
| iö | [jɵ] | /jɵ/ | No GenAM equivalent; like ё in Russian её | ||
| öu | [ɵy̯] | /ɵy/ | Not equivalent to Finnish öy, which is rather [ø̞y̯]; Isoba öu starts more closed and farther back. | No GenAM equivalent; pronounce [ɵ], then [y] immediately, emphasizing the former over the latter. | |
| ue | [ɥe̞] | /ɥe/ | No GenAm equivalent; üe in Mandarin Pinyin |