occur, usually the first vowel has the level tone and the
second one other tones. The vowel [0] in these sequences of
vowels is also in free variation with [w] and [v] as some
speakers pronounce it with [w] as in [kwà] or [kwà] ‘open
mouth’ (imp).
High
front unrounded vowel has an on glide positional variant [yi]
in the initial position and a lower high variant [U] in a
first syllable of word with a falling tone on it.
The
six simple vowels mentioned above are capable of showing three
way opposition in tone. These are Falling, Rising and level
tones.
Below,
contrasting pairs are given for vowels. First, pairs are given
in phonetic transcription, then in phonemic transcription.
Contrasts for vowels are given in the following way :
1.
Contrast on the basis of jaw height.
2.
Contrast on the basis of lip position.
|
nì]
nì]
m/
mì]
kónà]
and
a
Ünà]
