mr ‘friendship’ [used especially in poetry] ņkhrāyĭ ‘paramour ; concubine’ mąĭ ‘seed kept for sowing purposes’

Word-initially, [i] tends to be lower viz [I] [F1 350 Hz]. In [idu] ‘yesterday’, for instance, the initial [i] is slower than it typically is elsewhere, but not as low as [e]. In an ambivalent fix because there is no written symbol for this sound in the orthography, native speakers are found writing both idu and edu ‘yesterday’, ipre and epre ‘elephant.’

[e] is the unrounded mid front vowel.

The vowel is more centralized [F2 1500 Hz] than a typical English [e] [as in a word like bet]. Word-finally, it tends to be lower [F1 550 Hz] as opposed to F1 450 Hz in other positions]. Concomitantly, the velum is raised and the lips spread.

It occurs word-medially and word-finally.

Medial

hčnĢ ‘1. fog 2. mist’ ohélĢ ‘family’ ōt tēšū ‘great grandchild’ ōhs* ‘pine tree’ ōlčn ‘viscera; entrials’ pfŏzéną ‘a clan name in Shongshong village’

Final

v ‘the woods’ pfŏt ‘mound’ mąr ‘rainbow’ mąš ‘slope’ ōm ‘mouth’ kąph ‘shoulder’ kņh ‘circle’ kąt  ‘any’

[ t ] is the unrounded central vowel.

It is the central part of the tongue that is involved in the articulation of this vowel. Before affricates, fricatives and liquids, the tongue is raised as high as for the fornt vowel [i]. Elsewhere it is not raised as high. In both cases, the vowel is slightly retracted, unlike its English counterpart. Concomitantly, the velum is raised and the lips spread.

oh ‘sun’ ōļt ‘globe; earth; world’ ōdz ‘water’ ōpf ‘mother’ mņbv ‘echo’ šīpą ‘moss’ rz ‘bed’ pĢkrt ‘silkcotton’ kōr ‘river’ kasame ‘friend’ ome ‘man, people’ šlóš ‘mulberry’ vş ‘fresh green vegetables’ sphrō ‘kind of tree with long-stalked leaves’ kōz ‘darkness’ kāš ‘place with tropical weather’ ōs ‘breath’ ōf ‘1. thicket, grove 2. plot of land’ ōv ‘leaf’ st ‘to know’ ró ‘rivulet; brook; creek; stream’

When it occurs before labiodentals, there is conspicuous protrusion of, and with some speakers, trilling of lips, as in

omt ‘mouth’

A phonetic free-variant of the vowel is articulated with slightly rounded lips [symbolized as 8]

kņh  ‘to rub’ kņl ‘warmth’ Ģh ‘copse of tall bushes and plants with a possible tree here and a tree there’ bēs ‘armlet’ ōc ‘husband’s elder brother’ bēc ‘mature; grown up’ cņs ‘body-part, most vital for life: ķ ‘1 to injure 2. shin’ Ģn   ‘to press [tr and intr]’