Editing Ket language (section)

== Phonology ==
=== Vowels ===
{|class=wikitable style=text-align:center
|-
!
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Central vowel|Central]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| {{IPA link|i}}
| {{IPA link|ɨ}}~{{IPAlink|ɯ}}
| {{IPA link|u}}
|-
! [[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| {{IPA link|e}}~{{IPA link|ɛ}}{{efn|name=high-steady|The normally [[Open-mid vowel|open-mid]] {{IPA|/ɛ/}} and {{IPA|/ɔ/}} are pronounced as [[Close-mid vowel|close-mid]] {{IPA|[e]}} and {{IPA|[o]}}, respectively, when they have the high-steady tone.}}
| {{IPA link|ə}}~{{IPA link|ʌ}}
| {{IPA link|o}}~{{IPA link|ɔ}}{{efn|name=high-steady}}
|-
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
| colspan="3"| {{IPA link|a}}{{efn|{{IPA|/a/}} freely varies between {{IPA|[æ]}}, {{IPA|[a]}}, {{IPA|[ɐ]}}, and {{IPA|[ɑ]}}.}}
|}
{{notelist}}Georg classifies {{IPAblink|ɛ}}, {{IPAblink|ɔ}}, {{IPAblink|ʌ}} and {{IPAblink|æ}} as [[Marginal phoneme|marginal phonemes]].{{sfn|Georg|2007|p=66}}

=== Consonants ===
Vajda analyses Ket as having only 12 consonant phonemes:

{|class=wikitable style=text-align:center
|-
!colspan=2| 
! [[Bilabial consonant|Bilabial]]
! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Uvular consonant|Uvular]]
! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPAlink|m}}
| {{IPAlink|n}}
|
| {{IPAlink|ŋ}}
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Plosive]]
! {{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| 
| {{IPAlink|t}}
|
| {{IPAlink|k}}
| {{IPAlink|q}}
|
|-
! {{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
| {{IPAlink|b}}
| {{IPAlink|d}}
|
| 
| 
| 
|-
!rowspan=2| [[Fricative]]
! {{small|[[Central consonant|central]]}}
| 
| {{IPAlink|s}}
| {{IPAlink|ç}}
|
|
| {{IPAlink|h}}
|-
! {{small|[[Lateral consonant|lateral]]}}
|
| {{IPAlink|ɮ}}
|
|
|
|
|}
It is one of the few languages to lack both {{IPA|/p/}} and {{IPA|/ɡ/}},<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://wals.info/valuesets/5A-ket|title=WALS Online – Datapoint Ket / Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems}}</ref> along with [[Arapaho language|Arapaho]], [[Goliath language|Goliath]], [[Obokuitai language|Obokuitai]], [[Palauan language|Palauan]], and [[Efik language|Efik]], as well as classical [[Arabic]] and some modern Arabic dialects.

There is much [[allophony]], and the phonetic inventory of consonants is essentially as below. This is the level of description reflected by the Ket alphabet.

{|class=wikitable style=text-align:center
|- 
!colspan=3| 
! [[Bilabial consonant|Bilabial]]
! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Uvular consonant|Uvular]]
! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! colspan=3| [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPAlink|m}}
| {{IPAlink|n}}
| 
| {{IPAlink|ŋ}}
|
|
|-
! colspan=2 rowspan=2| [[Plosive]]
! {{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| {{IPAlink|p}}
| {{IPAlink|t}}
|
| {{IPAlink|k}}
| {{IPAlink|q}}
| {{IPAlink|ʔ}}
|-
! {{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
| {{IPAlink|b}}
| {{IPAlink|d}}
|
| {{IPAlink|ɡ}}
| {{IPAlink|ɢ}}
| 
|-
!rowspan=3| [[Fricative]]
!rowspan=2| {{small|[[Central consonant|central]]}}
! {{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| 
| {{IPAlink|s}}
| {{IPAlink|ç}}
| ({{IPAlink|x}})
| ({{IPAlink|χ}})
| {{IPAlink|h}}
|-
! {{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
| {{IPAlink|β}}
| 
| {{IPAlink|ʝ}}
| {{IPAlink|ɣ}}
| {{IPAlink|ʁ}}
| 
|-
! colspan=2| {{small|[[Lateral consonant|lateral]]}}
|
| {{IPAlink|ɮ}}
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan=3| [[Flap consonant|Flap]]
|
| {{IPAlink|ɾ}}
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan=3| [[Trill consonant|Trill]]
|
| {{IPAlink|r}}
|
|
|
|
|}

Furthermore, all nasal consonants in Ket have voiceless allophones at the end of a monosyllabic word with a glottalized or descending tone (i.e. {{IPA|[m, n, ŋ]}} turn into {{IPA|[m̥, n̥, ŋ̥]}}), likewise, {{IPA|[ɮ]}} becomes {{IPA|[ɬ]}} in the same situation. Alveolars are often pronounced [[laminal consonant|laminal]] and possibly [[Palatalization (phonetics)|palatalized]], though not in the vicinity of a uvular consonant. {{IPA|/q/}} is normally pronounced with affrication, as {{IPA|[𐞥χ]}}.

=== Tone ===
Descriptions of Ket vary widely in the number of contrastive tones they report: as many as eight and as few as zero have been counted. Given this wide disagreement, whether or not Ket is a [[tonal language]] is debatable,<ref>Ian Maddieson, "Tone". The World Atlas of Language Structures Online. http://wals.info/feature/13</ref> although recent works by Ket specialists Edward Vajda and Stefan Georg defend the existence of tone.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Vajda |first=Edward J. |author-link=Edward Vajda |title=Tone and Phoneme in Ket |journal=Current Issues in Linguistic Theory |year=2003 |volume=246 |pages=393–418 |doi=10.1075/cilt.246.19vaj |isbn=978-90-272-4758-2 |url=https://www.academia.edu/3749920 |via=Academia.edu}}</ref>

In tonal descriptions, Ket does not employ a tone on every syllable but instead uses one tone per word. Following Vajda's description of Southern Ket, the five basic tones are as follows:{{Sfn|Vajda|2004|pp=8-12}}{{failed verification|date=July 2024|reason=Where did the Cyrillic transcriptions come from?}}

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! [[Tone name]]
! Glottalized
! High-even
! Rising falling
! Falling
! Rising high-falling
|-
! [[Tone contour]]
| {{IPA|[˧˦ˀ]}} (34’)
| {{IPA|[˥]}} (5)
| {{IPA|[˩˧.˧˩]}} (13.31)
| {{IPA|[˧˩]}} (31)
| {{IPA|[˩˧.˥˧]}} (13.53)
|-
! Example
| {{lang|ket|кеʼт}} {{IPA|[kɛˀt]}}<br>'person'
| {{lang|ket|сюль}} {{IPA|[súl]}}<br>'blood'
| {{lang|ket|сюуль}} {{IPA|[su᷈ːl] ([sǔûl])}}<br>'hand sled'
| {{lang|ket|ӄай}} {{IPA|[qâj]}}<br>'elk'
| {{lang|ket|бънтан}} {{IPA|[bʌ̌nta᷇n]}}<br>'mallard duck'
|}

The glottalized tone features pharyngeal or laryngeal constriction, or a full glottal stop that interrupts the vowel.

Georg's 2007 description of Ket tone is similar to the above, but reduces the basic number of tonemes to four, while moving the rising high-falling tone plus a variant to a class of tonemes only found in multisyllabic words. With some exceptions caused by certain prefixes or clitics, the domain of tones in a multisyllabic word is limited to the first two syllables.{{sfn|Georg|2007|pages=49, 56–58}}