/u/
It is a high back rounded vowel. It has a positional variant
[U] which can be described as lower high back rounded vowel.
It occurs only in the first syllable of a word beginning with
a falling tone. [u] occurs else where in all three positions
of a word.
Examples
for [U] ;
1.
[kùrà]
/kùrà/
lean
2.
[kùrtsì]
/kùrtsì/
barbar
3.
[kùtmó]
/kùtmó/
baboon
Examples
for [u] :
Initially
1.
[kónà]
/kónà/
circle
2.
[útàpnò]
/útàpnò/
in time
3.
[kóù]
/kóù/
to tan (leather)
Medially
1.
[kùr]
/kúr/
horse
2.
[kùm]
/kùm/
season
3.
[hm]
/hm/
feather
Finally
1.
[érù]
/érù/
rain
2.
[ékyù]
/ékyù/
fear
3.
[nù]
/nù/
sweet
4.
[ókù]
/ókù/
hole
5.
[lyù]
/lyù/
sheep
/o/
It is a higher mid back rounded vowel. It does not have any
positional variant other than [o] itself. It occurs initially,
medially and finally in a word.
]
rà]
kà]
]
ksà]
tsì]
