This article discusses the phonology of the Chukchi language. The Chukchi language, also known as Chukot or Luorawetlan,[1] is a language spoken by around 5 thousand people[2] in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. The endonym of the Chukchi language is Ԓыгъоравэтԓьэн йиԓыйиԓ (Lyg'"orawetl'en Jilyjil),[3] pronounced as [ɬəɣˀorawetɬˀɛn jiɬəjiɬ]. Chukchi is in the Chukotko-Kamchatkan family, and thus is closely related to Koryak, Kerek, Alyutor, and more distantly related to Itelmen, Southern Kamchadal, and Eastern Kamchadal.
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Generally, Chukchi is noted to have 5 or 6 distinct vowels, with /e1/ and /e2/ being identical in pronunciation but behaving differently in the language. A similar occurrence exists in Yup'ik Eskimo. Chukchi phonotactics are (C)V(C).
| Close | i | pronounced as /ink/ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid | pronounced as /ink/1 e2 | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| Open | pronounced as /ink/ |
Chukchi is notable for its vowel harmony based on vowel height, with /i/, /u/, and /e1/ belonging to the recessive group and /e₂/, /o/, and /a/ belonging to the dominant group. The three-vowel pairs alternate with each other and cannot cooccur within a word.
Chukchi has 15 consonants. The language lacks voiced stops, which are only found in loanwords.
| Nasal | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||
| Fricative | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||
| Lateral | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||||
| Approximant | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ |
There is also a supersegmental glottalisation realised as a glottal stop preceding a vowel. It is not treated as a consonant as a result of phonotactics and reduplication patterns.