Consonants The following table displays all the consonants in Luchazi: The close front vowel (i), when occurring before another vowel, becomes a
semi-consonant and is written y, unless it is immediately preceded by a consonant, when it remains i. Examples: yange, viange. The vowels have the Continental or Italian values. They are shorter when unstressed and are prolonged when doubled or when stressed at the end of a word. • The vowel
a is Long when accented, as
a in
tata, nana. Short when unstressed or before two consonants or
y or
s and in monosyllabic adverbs, as
a in
tata, paya, asa, hanga. Prolonged when doubled or stressed at the end of a word or syllable. Example:
ku laako. • The vowel
e is Long when accented, as
a in
heta, seza. Short when unstressed, as
a in
hete, seze. Short with the value of
e in
henga, lenda before two consonants. Exceptions are hembo and membo (due to coalescence of vowels). Many words derived from Portuguese have the short vowel though not followed by two consonants. Examples:
pena, papelo, luneta, ngehena, etc. Prolonged when stressed at the end of a word. • The vowel
i is Long when accented, as
e in
tina, sika. Short when unstressed or before two consonants, as
e in
citi, linga. In monosyllabics it is short, as
i in
it. Examples: ni, ndi. Prolonged when stressed. Examples: ti, fui. • The vowel
o is Long when accented, as
o in
sota, koka. Short when unstressed, as
o in
soko, loto. Short, with value of
o in
onga, yoya, kosa, luozi, ndo, before two consonants or y or s, and sometimes before z and in some monosyllables. The o is long in
zoza and
ngozi. Sometimes prolonged when stressed at the end of a word. Example:
to. • The vowel
u is Long when accented, as
u in
tuta, fula. Short, when unstressed or before two consonants or before s, as
u in
futuka, mbunga, kusa. == Orthography ==