Consonant clusters

In the tables below, the cells which have been marked with red colour represent clusters with an irregular pronunciation; and those with a bold font represent consonants or consonant clusters which can be lengthened.

Some general patterns can be observed:

  • y [j] must always be adjacent to a vowel. (The tabular data below is in this case is slightly incomplete: while it may seem that y [j] may be placed between syllabic consonants, that, in fact, is prohibited.)
  • Dental and alveolar plosives are almost never followed by other dental or alveolar sounds, [s] excluded; and [r] never follows a dental or alveolar consonant. For example, a cenyi would have severe difficulty pronouncing “Kilroy”, and would probably end up turning it into Ciroy [ˈkiroj].
  • A nasal followed by a fricative usually has a short, almost unpronounced plosive inserted between the two consonants, whose voicing is the same as that of the fricative and whose place of articulation is the same as that of the nasal. The cenya call this phenomenon a “transition consonant”.
  • Plosives and fricatives which are adjacent must have the same voicing. [ʀ], while technically a trill, behaves as a fricative in this regard. The pair dš could be seen as an exception to this rule, but isn’t technically one, as it is pronounced [ʤ].
  • [θ] only ever appears next to [s] and [ʃ].
Initial
bcdfgylmnŋprrrrhsssšššt þvx
b[b] [bj][bl][br][br̩][bʀ]
c[k] [kj][kl][kr][kr̩][ks̩][kʃ̩][kt][kχ]
d[d] [ɟ][dʀ][ʤ][dv]
f[f] [fj][fl][fr][fr̩][fχ]
g[g] [gd][gj][gl][ŋː][gr][gr̩][gʀ]
y[j]
l[l] [ls̩][lʃ̩]
m[m] [ms̩][mʃ̩]
n[n] [ɲ][ns̩][nʃ̩]
ŋ[ŋ] [ŋs̩][ŋʃ̩]
p[p] [pk][pf][pj][pl][pr][pr̩][ps][ps̩][pʃ][pʃ̩][pt][pχ]
r[r]
rr[r̩] [r̩b][r̩k][r̩d][r̩f][r̩g][r̩j][r̩l][r̩m][r̩n][r̩ŋ][r̩p][r̩s][r̩ʃ][r̩t][r̩v][r̩χ]
rh[ʀ] [ʀr]
s[s] [sk][sf][ç][sl][sm][sn][sp][st][sθ][sχ]
ss[s̩] [s̩k][s̩f][s̩j][s̩l][s̩m][s̩n][s̩ŋ][s̩p][s̩t][s̩θ][s̩χ]
š[ʃ] [ʃk][ʃf][ʃl][ʃm][ʃn][ʃp][ʃt][ʃχ]
šš[ʃ̩] [ʃ̩k][ʃ̩f][ʃ̩j][ʃ̩l][ʃ̩m][ʃ̩n][ʃ̩ŋ][ʃ̩p][ʃ̩t][ʃ̩θ][ʃ̩χ]
þ[θ]
t[t] [tk][tf][c][ts][ts̩][tʃ][tʃ̩][tχ]
v[v] [vj][vl][vr][vr̩][vʀ]
x[χ] [χk][χj][χl][χr][χr̩][χs̩][χʃ̩]
Medial
bcdfgylmnŋprrrrhsssšššt þvx
b[b] [bd][bj][bl][br][br̩][bʀ][bv]
c[k] [kf][kj][kl][km][kn][kp][kr][kr̩][ks][ks̩][kʃ][kʃ̩][kt][kχ]
d[d] [ɟ][dʀ][ʤ][dv]
f[f] [fk][fj][fl][fn][fp][fr][fr̩][fs][fʃ][ft][fχ]
g[g] [gb][gd][gj][gl][gm][gn][ŋː][gr][gr̩][gʀ][gv]
y[j] [jb][jk][jd][jf][jg][jl][jm][jn][jŋ][jp][jr][jr̩][jʀ][js][js̩][jʃ][jʃ̩][jt][jv][jχ]
l[l] [lb][lk][ld][lf][lg][lj][lm][ln][lŋ][lp][lʀ][lts][ls̩][ltʃ][lʃ̩][lt][lv][lχ]
m[m] [mb][mpf][mj][ml][mp][mr][mr̩][mʀ][mps][ms̩][mpʃ][mʃ̩][mbv][mpχ]
n[n] [nk][nd][ntf][ɲ][nʀ][nts][ns̩][ntʃ][nʃ̩][nt][ndv][ntχ]
ŋ[ŋ] [ŋk][ŋkf][ŋg][ŋj][ŋl][ŋks][ŋs̩][ŋkʃ][ŋʃ̩][ŋgv]
p[p] [pk][pf][pj][pl][pr][pr̩][ps][ps̩][pʃ][pʃ̩][pt][pχ]
r[r] [rb][rk][rd][rf][rg][rj][rl][rm][rn][rŋ][rp][rs][rʃ][rt][rv][rχ]
rr[r̩] [r̩b][r̩k][r̩d][r̩f][r̩g][r̩j][r̩l][r̩m][r̩n][r̩ŋ][r̩p][r̩s][r̩ʃ][r̩t][r̩v][r̩χ]
rh[ʀ] [ʀb][ʀd][ʀg][ʀj][ʀl][ʀm][ʀn][ʀŋ][ʀr][ʀv]
s[s] [sk][sf][ç][sl][sm][sn][sŋ][sp][st][sθ][sχ]
ss[s̩] [s̩k][s̩f][s̩j][s̩l][s̩m][s̩n][s̩ŋ][s̩p][s̩t][s̩θ][s̩χ]
š[ʃ] [ʃk][ʃf][ʃl][ʃm][ʃn][ʃŋ][ʃp][ʃt][ʃθ][ʃχ]
šš[ʃ̩] [ʃ̩k][ʃ̩f][ʃ̩j][ʃ̩l][ʃ̩m][ʃ̩n][ʃ̩ŋ][ʃ̩p][ʃ̩t][ʃ̩θ][ʃ̩χ]
þ[θ] [θs][θs̩][θʃ][θʃ̩]
t[t] [tk][tf][c][ts][ts̩][tʃ][tʃ̩][tχ]
v[v] [vb][vd][vg][vj][vl][vn][vŋ][vr][vr̩][vʀ]
x[χ] [χk][χf][χj][χl][χm][χn][χp][χr][χr̩][χs][χs̩][χʃ][χʃ̩][χt]
Final
bcdfgylmnŋprrrrhsssšššt þvx
b[b] [br̩]
c[k] [kf][kr̩][ks][ks̩][kʃ][kʃ̩][kt][kχ]
d[d] [ʤ]
f[f] [fk][fr̩][fs][fʃ][ft]
g[g] [gd][ŋː][gr̩]
y[j] [jb][jk][jd][jf][jg][jl][jm][jn][jŋ][jp][jr][jr̩][jʀ][js][js̩][jʃ][jʃ̩][jt][jv][jχ]
l[l] [lb][lk][ld][lf][lg][lm][ln][lŋ][lp][lts][ls̩][ltʃ][lʃ̩][lt][lv][lχ]
m[m] [mb][mpf][ml][mp][mr̩][mps][ms̩][mpʃ][mʃ̩][mbv][mpχ]
n[n] [nk][nd][ntf][nts][ns̩][ntʃ][nʃ̩][nt][ndv][ntχ]
ŋ[ŋ] [ŋk][ŋkf][ŋg][ŋks][ŋs̩][ŋkʃ][ŋʃ̩][ŋgv]
p[p] [pf][pr̩][ps][ps̩][pʃ][pʃ̩][pt]
r[r] [rb][rk][rd][rf][rg][rl][rm][rn][rŋ][rp][rs][rʃ][rt][rv][rχ]
rr[r̩] [r̩b][r̩k][r̩d][r̩f][r̩g][r̩l][r̩m][r̩n][r̩ŋ][r̩p][r̩s][r̩ʃ][r̩t][r̩v][r̩χ]
rh[ʀ] [ʀb][ʀd][ʀg][ʀl][ʀm][ʀn][ʀr][ʀv]
s[s] [sk][sp][st][sθ][sχ]
ss[s̩] [s̩k][s̩m][s̩p][s̩t][s̩θ][s̩χ]
š[ʃ] [ʃk][ʃm][ʃp][ʃt][ʃθ][ʃχ]
šš[ʃ̩] [ʃ̩k][ʃ̩p][ʃ̩t][ʃ̩θ][ʃ̩χ]
þ[θ] [θs][θs̩][θʃ][θʃ̩]
t[t] [ts][ts̩][tʃ][tʃ̩][tχ]
v[v] [vr̩]
x[χ] [χk][χr̩][χs][χs̩][χʃ][χʃ̩][χt]
Always single
Initial Medial Final
ð [ð] [ð] [ð]
h [h] [h] [h/x] [x]
w [w] [w]

The pronunciation of h as [x] in medial position is mainly dialectal.