Phonology

 

A number of descriptions of Balochi phonology have been published by native and non-native Baloch linguists. The descriptions vary from one dialect to another dialect.

Vowels

Most of the linguists agree on a total of eight vowels, five long ones and three short. However, some linguists believe that with two additional vowels, there are seven long vowels and three short vowels as given in chart 1.

Chart 1: Balochi Vowels

 
  Front Central Back
  Unrounded Unrounded Rounded
Close    i: i   u u:
Half-Close    e: a o:
Half-Open   (ɛ:)
 
           (ɔ:)
Open a:  

Diphthongs

At least two sequences /ae/ and /ao/ are analyzed as diphthongs in all varieties of Balochi languages.

Nasal vowels

Various varieties of Balochi have at least two nasalized vowels: /ã/ and /ĩ̃/.

Consonants

There are 22 phonemic consonants in Balochi. All of the consonants may occur in the syllable onset and coda position except the retroflex trill which does not occur in the word initial position. Western and Eastern dialects have a few additional fricatives shown in parenthesis, in chart 2.


Chart 2: Balochi Consonants

 

      Bilabial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Post alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
PLOSIVES vl unasp p       ʈ   k  
vd unasp b       ɖ   ɡ  
FRICATIVES vl   (f)   s       (x)  
vd   (v)   z       (ɣ) ɦ
AFRICATES vl       ʃ ʧ        
vd       ʒ ʤ        
NASALS vd m     n          
TRILLS vd       r   ɽ      
LATERAL vd       l          
APPROXIMANTS vd             j w  

 

Stress: Stress in the Balochi language is predictable. The primary stress typically falls on the syllable which has a long vowel. In case of a polysyllabic word with only short or long vowels, the primary stress falls on the final syllable.