Salish Vowels Salish has five vowels, , plus an
epenthetic schwa which occurs between an
obstruent and a
sonorant consonant, or between two unlike sonorants. Differences in glottalization do not cause epenthesis, and in long sequences not all pairs are separated, for example in → "tale", → "red raspberry", and → "toilet". No word may begin with a vowel.
Consonants Salish has
pharyngeal consonants, which are rare worldwide and uncommon but not unusual in the
Mosan Sprachbund to which Salish belongs. It is also unusual in lacking a simple
lateral approximant and simple
velar consonants ( only occurs in
loanwords), though again this is known elsewhere in the Mosan area. Salish contrasts
affricates with
stop–
fricative sequences. For example, "tender, sore" has a sequence of two affricates, whereas "killdeer" has a tee-esh sequence. All stop consonants are clearly released, even in clusters or word-finally. Though they are generally not aspirated, aspiration often occurs before obstruents and
epenthetic schwas before sonorants. For example, the word "a fat little belly" is pronounced ; likewise, "woodtick" is pronounced , and is . The lateral approximant and fricative are typically
prestopped. The fricative is therefore commonly realized as , and the approximant as ; the latter may also be fricated as or , making it quite phonetically similar to the fricative in those contexts.
Consonants The consonant inventory of Spokane differs from Salish somewhat, including plain and glottalized central alveolar approximants and , and a uvular series instead of post-velar. ==Morphology==