How to read and say Tyap

Intonation

Tyap is a tonal language with a high, mid, low, mid-low, high-low and low-high ranges, but only one (the high tone indicated by the acute accent) is used for writing. Tyap has no nasal vowel sounds. It, however, has nasal consonant sounds (m /m/, n /n/, and ng /ŋ/) which are also tonal. Tyap also uses the underscore diacritic mark usually placed under vowels "a" and "i"; a̱ denotes the schwa sound /ǝ/ while i̱ denotes the shortened "i" sound /ɨ/.

Vowels

Tyap has other vowels The basic Tyap alphabetical chart displays just five vowels. However, those five have constituents. Basic alphabetical vowels a, e, i, o, u Tyap has short and long monophthongs, and diphthongs.

Short monophthongs

Basic alphabetical vowels	const. vowels	Wikivoyage pseudo-phoneticization	IPA	Tyap example	English approx.	Sound
a	a	ah	a	ma	father
	a̱	uh	ǝ	ka̱kpa̱t	about
e		eh	e	a̱meme	vary
i	i	ee	i	bi	family
	i̱	ih	ɨ	fi̱k	no En. approx.
o		oh	o, sometimes ɔ	long	pot
u		oo	u	a̱kum	bantu

Long monophthongs

long vowels	const. vowels	Wikivoyage pseudo-phoneticization	IPA	Tyap example	English approx.	Sound
aa	aa	ah-ah	a:	saat	far
	a̱a̱	uh-uh	ǝ:	kpa̱a̱t	no En. approx.
ee		eh-eh	e:	neet	no En. approx.
ii	ii	ee-ee	i:	nhiit	sheep
	i̱i̱	ih-ih	ɨ:	nzi̱i̱t	no En. approx.
oo		oh-oh	o:, sometimes ɔ:	noot	for
uu		oo-oo	u:	lyuut	shoot

Diphthongs

diph. as written in Tyap	Wikivoyage pseudo-phoneticization	IPA	Tyap example	English approximation	Sound
ai	ai	ai	kpai	by
a̱u	uhw	ǝu	la̱u	go
ea	eh-ah	ea	beang	no English equiv.
ei (variant a̱i)	ay (variant uhy)	ei (variant əi)	yei (variant ya̱i)	prey (variant no En. approx.)	(variant | )
ia	ee-ah	ia	a̱nia	Nigeria
oi	oy	oi	fwoi	spoil

Consonants

Tyap has many consonants Tyap has a little over a hundred consonant sounds. However, just the basic letters (same as English alphabet but minus "q" and "x") are used in the Tyap basic alphabet: Basic alphabetical consonants b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w, y, z Labialization and palatalization of consonant sounds are responsible for the many consonant sounds in the language.

Monographic consonants

Wikivoyage pseudo-phoneticization	IPA	Tyap example	English approximation	Sound
b	b	byin	bean
c	tʃ	cuk	chair
d	d	a̱di̱dam	do
f	f	fam	fee
g	ɡ	geam	greet
h	h	hat	how
j	dʒ	jem	job
k	k	ka̱maca	clan
l	l	long	line
m	m	mai	mine
n	n	nam	new
p	p	pa̱mpang	pair
r	r	ra̱ra̱k	rain
s	s	sam	say
t	t	tuk	tree
v	v	vam	view
w	w	wun	win
y	j	yet	you
z	dz	zam	no English equiv.

Digraphic consonants

Wikivoyage pseudo-phoneticization	IPA	Tyap example	English approximation	Sound
gb	gb	gba	no English equiv.
gh	ɣ	ghai	maghreb (in Arabic)
kh	x	kham	Loch (in Scottish English)
kp	kp	kpa	no English equiv.
ng	ŋ	nga	king
ny	ɲ	nyak	niña (in Spanish)
sh	ʃ	shisham	shy
ts	ts	tsang	tsunami (in Japanese)

Labial consonants

Short

bw

/bʷ/; no English equivalent

cw

/t͡ʃʷ/; no English equivalent

fw

/fʷ/; no English equivalent

gw

/ɡʷ/; no English equivalent

ghw

/ɣʷ/; no English equivalent

hw

/hʷ/ or /ʍ/; like 'wh' in "what"

jw

/d͡ʒʷ/; no English equivalent

kw

/kʷ/; like 'qu' in "quick"

khw

/xʷ/; no English equivalent

mw

/mʷ/; like 'mw' in "Cromwell"

nw (ngw)

/ŋʷ/; no English equivalent

pw

/pʷ/; no English equivalent

sw

/sʷ/; like 'sw' in "swing"

shw

/ʃʷ/; like 'schw' in "schwa"

tsw

/t͡sʷ/; no English equivalent

yw

/jʷ/ or /ɥ/; like 'yw' in "yuan"

zw

/d͡zʷ/; no English equivalent

Long

These may otherwise be written -ww in Jju, but written in Tyap as -wu. But it is more or less the same articulation.

cwu

/t͡ʃʷʷ/; no English equivalent

fwu

/fʷʷ/; no English equivalent

nwu

/ŋʷʷ/; no English equivalent

pwu

/pʷʷ/; no English equivalent

swu

/sʷʷ/; no English equivalent

tswu

/t͡sʷʷ/; no English equivalent

vwu

/vʷʷ/; no English equivalent

zwu

/d͡zʷʷ/; no English equivalent

Palatal consonants

Short

by

/bʲ/; no English equivalent

cy

/t͡ʃʲ/; no English equivalent

dy

/dʲ/; no English equivalent

gy

/ɡʲ/ or /ɟ/; no English equivalent

ghy

/ɣʲ/; no English equivalent

hy

/hʲ/; no English equivalent

jhy (palatized form of "zh")

/ʒʲ/; no English equivalent

ky

/kʲ/; like 'cu' in "cue"

ly

/lʲ/; no English equivalent

my

/mʲ; no English equivalent

nyi

/ɲʲ/; no English equivalent

py

/pʲ/; no English equivalent

shy

/ʃʲ/; no English equivalent

ty

/tʲ/; like 'ti' in "Christian"

Long

These may otherwise be written -yy in Jju, but written in Tyap as -yi. But it is more or less the same articulation.

byi

/bʲʲ/; no English equivalent

cyi

/t͡ʃʲʲ/; no English equivalent

dyi

/dʲʲ/; no English equivalent

hyi

/hʲʲ/; no English equivalent

kyi

/kʲʲ/; no English equivalent

lyi

/lʲʲ/; no English equivalent

myi

/mʲʲ/; no English equivalent

pyi

/pʲʲ/; no English equivalent

shyi

/ʃʲʲ/; no English equivalent

tyi

/tʲʲ/; no English equivalent

Labio-palatal consonants

cyu (also "cyw")

/t͡ʃʲʷ/; no English equivalent

dyu (also "dyw")

/dʲʷ/; no English equivalent

ghyu (also "ghyw")

/ɣʲʷ/; no English equivalent

hyu (also "hyw")

/hʲʷ/; like 'hue' in "hue"

jhyu (also "jhyw")

/ʒʲʷ/; no English equivalent

kyu (also "kyw")

/kʲʷ/; no English equivalent

lyu (also "lyw")

/lʲʷ/; no English equivalent

nyu (also "nyw")

/ɲʲʷ/; no English equivalent

shyu (also "shyw")

/ʃʲʷ/; no English equivalent

tyu (also "tyw")

/tʲʷ/; no English equivalent

Long nasal consonants

mm

/m:/; like 'm' in "numb"

nn

/n:/; like 'nn' in "Finn"

nng

/ŋ:/; like 'ng' in "fling"

Other sub-dialectical variants

dw (others use "dyw/dyu")

/dʷ/; no English equivalent

gby (others use "gb")

/ɡ͡bʲ/; no English equivalent

kpy (others use "kp")

/k͡pʲ/; no English equivalent

lw (others use "lyw/lyu")

/lʷ/; no English equivalent