Phonological inventory
Consonants
A tentative consonant inventory of Serer:
|
|
Labial
|
Alveolar
|
Palatal
|
Velar
|
Uvular
|
Glottal
|
| Stops
|
V'less
|
p
|
t
|
c~ʧ
|
k
|
|
ʔ
|
| Voiced
|
b
|
d
|
ɟ~ʤ
|
g
|
|
|
| Implosive
|
ɓ
|
ɗ
|
ʄ
|
|
|
|
| Voiceless Implosive
|
ƥ
|
ƭ
|
ƈ
|
|
|
|
| Prenasalized
|
ᵐb
|
ⁿd
|
ᶮɟ
|
ᵑg
|
|
|
| Nasal
|
m
|
n
|
ɲ
|
ŋ
|
|
|
| Fricative
|
f
|
s
|
|
|
χ~h
|
|
| Tap/Trill
|
|
ɾ~r
|
|
|
|
|
| Liquid
|
|
l
|
|
|
|
|
| Implosive lateral
|
|
ɗl
|
|
|
|
|
| Glide
|
ʋ~β̞~w
|
|
j
|
|
|
|
Notes:
- The modal voice palatal stops tend to be pronounced as affricates word initially, and stops elsewhere. The implosive palatal stops do not exhibit this alternation.
- /r/ can be pronounced as either a tap/flap, or a trill. In slower or more careful speech, the trill is more likely to surface.
- The labial glide is not exactly [w], but there may in fact be velar co-articulation. Note that in certain morpho-phonological alternations, /w/ and /k/ pattern together, as well as /w/, /b/ and /p/.
- The back fricative /χ/ is alternately pronounced as [χ] or [h]. In quicker speech, [h] is more likely to surface, with [χ] being the more common allophone in slower or more careful speech.
- In quick speech, the prenasalized stop /ɲɟ/ is often pronounced as [ɲj].
- /k/ often has a backed allophone [q] in the presence of the vowels /a/ or /o/.
- The voiceless (non-implosive) stops are pronounced as alternately aspirated, unaspirated, or lightly ejective. The conditioning environments for this allophony are not yet completely clear.
- Initially (and of course medially), the voiced stops are fully voiced, with voicing and closure being essentially simultaneous.
- Voiced stops (implosive, modal, and prenasalized) undergo some degree of word- or phrase-final devoicing in quick speech. Tentatively, this does not seem to cause complete devoicing, avoiding neutralization with the voiceless stops.
Minimal Pairs
Possible near pairs:
| word |
gloss
|
| ˈtadikʰ |
three
|
| ⁿdiitˈ |
bird
|
| word |
gloss
|
| χooχ |
to cultivate
|
| χoχ |
head
|
| word |
gloss
|
| ŋɡol |
finger
|
| oŋɡool |
moon
|
| word |
gloss
|
| famb |
drum
|
| faaɓ |
frog
|
| word |
gloss
|
| fidɛl |
fire
|
| ˈʔambɛ:l |
lake
|
| word |
gloss
|
| ƥa̰:k |
baobab tree
|
| ɓa:k |
baobab fruit
|
| word |
gloss
|
| oˈɟɛm |
salt
|
| ˈɟimb |
transplant
|
| word |
gloss
|
| ˈɟimb |
transplant
|
| ˈcimb |
seedling
|
| aˈkim |
song
|
| word |
gloss
|
| oˈqol |
field
|
| oˈkol |
glue (Fr.)
|
| word |
gloss
|
| aˈnaaq |
branch
|
| aˈnaaχaha |
senile, negligent
|
Vowels
A tentative vowel inventory of Serer:
|
|
Front
|
Central
|
Back
|
| High
|
i, ɪ
|
|
u
|
| Mid
|
e, ɛ
|
ə
|
ɔ, o
|
| Low
|
|
|
a
|
|
Serer also has diphthongs: aɪ, oɪ, ɔɪ.
Vowel length is contrastive.
Vowels after implosive consonants are sometimes creaky; this does not seem to be contrastive.
Suprasegmentals
Serer makes use of stress. (?) It is unclear at this point whether it is automatically/metrically assigned to words or if it is lexically specified and unpredictable. Faytak 22:19, 20 September 2012 (UTC)
Plural marker χa- (supposing that it is a separate morpheme) seems to attract stress in some instances (e.g. aˈlas "tail", ˈχalas "tails"). Faytak 01:40, 25 September 2012 (UTC)
