Consonants The consonant inventory of Songlin is as follows (Song 2019:18–19). Consonant clusters include: nb, nd, nȡ, nɟ, ng, ndz, ndʑ, ndʐ, pʐ, pʰʐ, bʐ, nbʐ, kʐ, kʰʐ, gʐ, nbʐ, ngʐ. /n/- is treated as part of consonant clusters, rather than as part of prenasalized initial consonants. Note: In
Sinology, ȵ is roughly equivalent to [ɲ] or [nʲ], while ȶ and ȡ can typically be transcribed as [tʲ] and [dʲ], respectively, although in practice they can actually be equivalent to [tʃ] or [dʒ] instead, or other similar
affricates. Also, ɕ and ʑ often, but not always, correspond to [ʃ] and [ʒ] in IPA transcriptions used by non-Sinologists. For further information, see
obsolete and nonstandard symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet.
Vowels There are 12 vowels: i, y, ɯ, u, e, ø, o, ə, ɛ, ɑ, ɿ, ʮ (Song 2019:21–22). Songlin has 5 diphthongs: ui, ɯi, ou, ie, iɛ. Note that ɿ [ɨ] is used by Sinologists, as well as ʮ ([ʉ], [ɹ̩ʷ] or [z̩ʷ]), which is a labialized syllabic
denti-alveolar approximant used by Sinologists.
Tones There are three tones in Songlin. About 50% of all words in Songlin have the high level tone /˥/ (/55/), while the mid rising /˨˦/ (/24) and low falling /˧˩/ (/31/) tones are each found in approximately 25% of all Songlin words (Song 2019:24). ==Script==