Vowels
Vowel |
Pronunciation |
Example |
a
|
may be very short as in senate
may be medium short as in alike
may be quite long as in
father |
habu, ban
nera, nama
baba, fala |
aa
|
is used for the long sound where there is a homonym. |
haabu, baan |
e
|
may be long, as "a" in fate
may be medium as in merry
(similar to French è)
may be quite short as in end |
yeni
nera, yeri
mare, mate
|
i
|
is generally long like "e" in he
is sometimes short, especially in closed syllables (those ending in a consonant), as in city |
di, hi
jina, hima, sintin
|
o
|
is usually long, as in old
is rarely short, as in horn
|
bobo, koro
boro, fondo |
u
|
is like "oo" in food |
bu, kulu, kuro |
uu
|
is used where there is a homonym with longer vowel |
kuuru |
|