Letters
Letter
|
Name
|
IPA
|
A a
|
a
|
[ʌ]
|
B b
|
ba
|
[b]
|
T t
|
ta
|
[t]
|
S s
|
sa
|
[s]
|
E e
|
e
|
[e]
|
C c
|
ca
|
[ħ]
|
K k
|
ka
|
[k]
|
X x
|
xa
|
[ɖ]
|
I i
|
i
|
[i]
|
D d
|
da
|
[d]
|
Q q
|
qa
|
[ʕ]
|
R r
|
ra
|
[r]
|
F f
|
fa
|
[f]
|
G g
|
ga
|
[g]
|
O o
|
o
|
[o]
|
L l
|
la
|
[l]
|
M m
|
ma
|
[m]
|
N n
|
na
|
[n]
|
U u
|
u
|
[u]
|
W w
|
wa
|
[w]
|
H h
|
ha
|
[h]
|
Y y
|
ya
|
[j]
|
Consonants
The consonants of the Afar language in the standard orthography are listed below (with IPA notation in brackets):
|
Labial
|
Alveolar
|
Retroflex
|
Palatal
|
Velar
|
Pharyngeal
|
Glottal
|
Stops
|
voiceless
|
|
t [t]
|
|
|
k [k]
|
|
|
voiced
|
b [b]
|
d [d]
|
|
|
g [ɡ]
|
|
|
Fricatives
|
voiceless
|
f [f]
|
s [s]
|
|
|
|
c [ħ]
|
h [h]
|
voiced
|
|
|
|
|
|
q [ʕ]
|
|
Nasals
|
m [m]
|
n [n]
|
|
|
|
|
|
Approximants
|
w [w]
|
l [l]
|
|
y [j]
|
|
|
|
Tap
|
|
r [ɾ]
|
x [ɖ]
|
|
|
|
|
Voiceless stop consonants which close syllables are released, e.g., [ʌkʰˈme].
Vowels
Long Vowels
Long vowel
|
aa
|
ee
|
ii
|
oo
|
uu
|
IPA
|
[aː]
|
[eː]
|
[iː]
|
[oː]
|
[uː]
|
stress
short
- a [ʌ]
- e [e]
- i [i]
- o [o]
- u [u]
long
- aa [aː]
- ee [eː]
- ii [iː]
- oo [oː]
- uu [uː]
Sentence final vowels of affirmative verbs are aspirated (and stressed), e.g. abeh = /aˈbeʰ/ 'He did.' Sentence final vowels of negative verbs are not aspirated (nor stressed), e.g. maabinna = /ˈmaabinna/ 'He did not do.' Sentence final vowels of interrogative verbs are lengthened (and stressed), e.g. abee? = /aˈbeː/ 'Did he do?' Otherwise, stress in word-final.
Sources