The phonology of Awngi

This study presents the phonology of Awngi, a major Central Cushitic language spoken in Northern Ethiopia. Awngi has six vowels, one of which an almost predictable epenthetic vowel /ɨ/, and twenty-nine consonants, of which five are labialized and two are post-stopped fricatives. Two tone levels are also contrastive in the language. This paper presents evidence for contrast and variation for all Awngi phonemes, a description of the syllable structure, a discussion of the phonological rules, and a list of 325 Awngi words in IPA phonemic writing.