The standard orthography uses the following symbols:
labial
labio- dental alveolar retroflex palatal velar
uvular pharyngeal glottal
dental
voiced
stops b
d
dh
g q
'
voiceless
stops
t
k
nasals m
n
voiceless
fricatives
f
s
sh
kh x
h
voiced
fricatives
c
voiced
affricates
j
trills
r
laterals
l
glides w*
y
* /w/ is labiovelar of course.
Perhaps /c/ and /j/ should really be considered as members of the voiced stop series?
/dh/ is pronounced as [r] in the south except when word-initial or geminate, and may often be written as 'r' as well.
The members of the series of "voiced stops" are apparently often voiceless, especially /b/, /j/ and /q/, which do not contrast.
/kh/ may be velar or uvular, and is found only in Arabic loan words.
/b/ /d/ /dh/ /g/ /q/ /l/ /m/ /n/ /r/ may be geminate.
i ii
u uu
e ee o oo
a aa
These ten vowels are further distinguished by a front/back feature, which is not marked by the orthography, and which is also harmonic at some variable level apparently greater than the phonological word.
The following diphthongs occur:
ay aay aw aaw ey eey oy ooy ow oow
The length of diphthongs does not seem to be marked very carefully in writing, if at all. Rhymes of the form /VG/ sometimes count as short, sometimes as long in metered verse; whether this reflects an underlying distinction not made in writing is unclear to me.
Rhyme types include V, VG, VV, VVG, VC, VGC, VVC. Whether VVGC is a
possible rhyme type is unclear.
/t/ and /k/ do not occur in syllable-final position (/k/ -> [g]/_#)
/m/ and /j/ do not occur in word-final position (/m/ -> [n]/_#)
[verb_conj3]d(o) + t -> t
qaado+taa -> qaadta -> qaata 'I take' (x)
short vowels in word-final syllable (optionally?) assimilate to
initial vowel of suffix
or following (cliticized?) word:
xoola+kii -> xoolihii 'the cattle'
dhac+een -> dheceen 'they fell'
wix+kii -> wixii 'the (known) thing'
wax+ka+uu -> wuxuu 'what he ...' (i.e. 'the thing [that] he')
laba koob oo caano ah -> laba kob oo caana ah 'two cups of milk'
unclear if this can occur across two consonants...
trisyllabic shortening: (C1) V1 C2 V2 C3 V3 -> (C1) V1 C2 C3 V3
condition: C2, V2, C3 must be short
maalim+o -> maalmo 'days'
but maalmo+ka -> maalmaha 'the days' (because maalmka
or maalmha is illegal)
gabadh+o -> gabdho 'girls'
qalad+ay -> qalday 'he made a mistake'
but qalad+tay -> qaladday 'she made a mistake'
(compare (x) above)
hayso+teen -> haysteen 'they possessed'
ladan+ahay -> ladnahay 'I'm good'
Metathesis: sometimes ('rather rare') with trisyllabic shortening,
C2 and C3 switch.
culus+aa -> cuslaa 'he was heavy'
duman+ay -> dunmay 'got organized'
neceb+ayd -> nebcayd 'she disliked it'
a ~ e sometimes /a/ and /e/ are variants, e.g. beddel ~ baddal 'change'
b ~ m sometimes /b/ and /m/ are variants, e.g. kibis ~ kimis 'bread'
kh ~ q sometimes /kh/ and /q/ are variants, e.g. duq ~ dukh 'old man'
[verb]+t -> +d /{c,d,h,q,x,',w}_ dhac+tay
-> dhacday 'she fell' illow+tay -> illowday 'you forgot'
/V_
joogso+tay -> joogsaday 'I stopped'
[noun]+t -> +d /d_
jamhuuriyad+ta -> jamhuuriyadda 'the republic'
V_ kaalma+ta -> kaalmada
'the assistance'
V'_ lo'+ta -> lo'da
'the cattle'
+t -> +dh /dh_ gabadh+ta
-> gabadhdha 'the girl'
xidh+tay -> xidhdhay 'she tied it'
[noun]+k -> +g / {g,y,w,i}
rag+kii -> raggii 'the men' oday+ka -> odayga 'the old men'
guri+kee -> gurigee 'which house?'
[noun]+k -> +h / V (other than i) ololo+ka -> ololaha 'the campaign' bare+ka -> baraha 'the teacher'
[noun]+k -> nil /{c,h,kh,q,x}_ rah+ka ->
raha 'the frog' sanduuq+ka -> sanduuqa 'the box'
(dunno about after /'/, which is the only other gutteral;
maybe not noun-final, or maybe placeless?)
k -> g /_$
l+n -> ll
dil+nay -> dillay 'we killed' (optional)
r+n -> rr
bar+nay -> barray 'we taught' (optional)
m -> n /_# /nim/ -> nin 'man' niman 'men'
a+u -> oo
ina+u -> inoo 'for us' la+u -> loo 'for someone'
a+u -> u
naag+ta+u -> naagtu 'the woman [subject]'
nim+ka+u -> ninku 'the man [subject]'
l+t -> sh
meel+ta -> meesha 'the place' bil+tan -> bishan 'this month'
qosol+tay -> qososhay 'she laughed calool+tayda -> calooshayda
'my stomach'
[verb]i+y -> sh ("sometimes")
tiri+yo -> tirsho 'I do not count'
is+mari+yaa -> ismarsha 'for external use'
w -> b (or vice versa?) illow+ey -> illobey 'I forgot' koow iyo toban -> koobyo toban 'eleven'
i -> y / _ V (generality unclear)
guri+o -> guryo 'houses'
bari+een -> baryeen 'they spent the night in peace'
Focus word /bàa/ followed by verbal subject pronoun:
maxáy+bàa+aad -> maxàad ('what + focus + you')
Verbal particle(s) and verbal object pronoun:
ku+ú+ká -> kaagá ('you for from')