ABANYALA BA KAKAMEGA: Language- The Consonant Letters and Sounds of Olunyala (K)

The following is an exposition of consonant letters and consonant sounds found in Olunyala (K). The Olunyala (K) is a sub-dialect of Luhya language spoken by the Abanyala in Kakamega. Olunyala (K) is internationally coded as ISO 939-3 nle.

A] CONSONANT LETTERS OF OLUNYALA (K)

Consonant letters used in words to represent the more than 40 consonants sounds in Olunyala (K) are only seventeen out of the twenty one. These seventeen letters that appear in Olunyala (K) orthography are as listed here. Remember these are letters and NOT SOUNDS.

1. Letter b as in babeya for they are cheating, nababa for devil, abeebi for thieves, olubibo for rake. This b is not the English or Kiswahili /b/ in pronunciation.
2. Letter d as in endindi for small isukuti drum, endukhu for hip, endichi for strong footsteps. The letter 'd' always occurs combined with a nasal 'n'.
3. Letter c as in chukha for pour, amechichi for honeypot insects, enchu for house, omunchu for person
4. Letter f as in fukha for struggle, efula for rain, efwiri for hair, olwafwa for crack.
5. Letter g as in engua for tick, eng'ombe for cattle, engobi for placenta. The letter 'g' always occurejoined with a norsal.
6. Letter h as in hana for give, aho for there, omwikho for relative.
7. Letter j as in enjala for hunger, enjobe for waterbuch, ewumbu for soil clot. The letter 'j' occures joined to a norsal 'n'.
8. Letter k as in kuka for grandfather, khanu for so, khwaya for scoop by hand, ekulukulu for turkey
9. Letter l as in lima for dig, loma for say, enjala for hunger olulundu (ollundu) for shrub name, olulerengi (ollerengi) for action of hoovering around.
10. Letter m as in amauko for tsetse fly, mama for mother, emoni for eyes.
11. Letter n as is esinanwa for chin, menena for crunch, omumanani for poor person.
12. Letter p as in epurupuru for moth, okhupwoka for arriving without notice.
13. Letter r as in omuranda, endabarwa
14. Letter s as in esa, eswa, esisanda (essanda), esisani (essani)
15. Letter t as in etete, tetekhana, thoo!  
16. Letter w as in amawa, kwatukha, nywakho
17. Letter y as in yola, nyanyaka, nywesa. 

OLUNYALA CONSONANTS ORTHOGRAPHY

The following is worth noting in relation to the orthography of Olunyala (K) in relation to consonants. 

1. The consonant letters  and consonant sound for letter x and q are not present in Olunyala (K)
2. The consonant letter letter v does not exist. However, scholars influenced by Maragoli orthography system, due to effect of bible reading of Olulogooli Bible, seem to be advocating for its introduction. In fact, it is prefered by the majority of the speakers. HOWEVER, attempts by the same speakers to produce the targeted /v/ in authentic Olunyala (K) words will always be met with replacement of the labial-dental aspect of /v/ with a bilabial hence producing /β/. Indeed, forcing the /β/ to be /v/, though not contrastive sounds in Olunyala, will be noticed as wrong by a keen speaker of Olunyala (K). Interestingly, to show early death of /v/, where other Luhya dialects use letters vw or bw, such as obwami, Olunyala (K) realise it as /w/ and not even as /βw/
3. The consonant sound for letter b as /b/, the consonant sound for letter g as/g/ and the consonant sound for letter j as /dʒ/ do not exist in Olunyala as independent sound. The three only exist in combination with its correlative nasal letters to give rise to new consonant sounds segments. However, they can be found in borrowed worlds, such as baba for father (original word for baba was Luta), that have not undergone complete Olunyalanization
4. Furthermore, in Olunyala (K), a word or syllable does not end with a consonant letter or sound.

B] CONSONANT SOUNDS OF OLUNYALA (K)
A keen analysis of more Olunyala (k) data involving all word classes has the following possible consonant sounds of Olunyala (K)

a) Major consonant sounds of Olunyala (K)

There are 14 consonant single letters that are used to form the consonant sounds and some other consonant sounds formed by combining other consonant letters. 

1. b pronounced /β/  as in abebi for thieves.
2. f pronounced /f/ as in efuliefu for dull coloured
3. h pronounced /h/  as in okhuhera for to pant like a dog. In most words with h in initial position, it is unaspirated.
4. k pronounced /k/ as in ekorokoho for cart.
5. l pronounced /l/ as in okhulala for roasted badly.
6. l pronounced /ɾ/ as in oulimbo for latex glue, okhulimalima for dig habitually. It is similar to /l/ but uniquely produced as a flap.
7. m pronounced /m/ as as in mama for mother, okhulomaloma for to to talk
8. n pronounced /n/ as in niina for climb.
9. p pronounced /p/ as in esipupu for group. Take note of the <p> in opicha [opiʧa] and epicha. [epʰiʧa]
10. r pronounced /r/ as in esichiriri for cricket
11. s pronounced /s/ as in esisa for sorrowfulness
12. t pronounced /t/ as in etete for grasshopper
13. w pronounced /w/ as in wewecha for murmur.
14. y pronounced /j/ as in yeya for sweep.
15. The c and h (ch) pronounced /ʧ/ as in esichakha for a bush, becha for slash and choma for pierce
16. The k and h (kh) pronounced /x/ as in khomba for lick, takha for search, esikhoso for glowing splint. Okhukhupaka. 
17. The n with g' (ng') /ŋ/ pronounced as one sound as in eng'eni for fish, ng'eng'a for gnaw and ng'ola for prophesy.
18. The n and y (ny) /ɲ/as in enyungu for a pot, khonya for help and nyanya for chew.
19. The voiced plossive consonants sound for b, which does not exist in Olunyala (K), can combine nasal sounds /m/ to form a new sound segment. The m with b (mb) is realised as /ᵐb/ as in embeba for rat, mberese for give me and embemba for rumours.
20. The voiced plosive consonants sound for d, which does not exist in Olunyala (K), can combine nasal sounds /n/ to form a new sound segment. The n with d (nd) is realised as /ⁿd/ as in enda for stomach, ndia for am eating and omuanda for road
21. The voiced plossive consonants sound for j, which does not exist in Olunyala (K), can combine with norsal sound /n/ to form a new sound segment. The n and j (nj) is then realised as /ⁿdʒ/ as in enjaka for marijuana, emianjo for melody sticks and njukha for a snake.
22. The voiced plossive consonants sound for g, which does not exist in Olunyala (K), can combine with norsal sound /n/ to form a new sound segment. The n and g (nj) is realised as /ᵑɡ/ as in engo for a home,  engobi for placenta and ngochwiswe for I do not know.
23. The voiceless sound for ch can combine with norsal sound for n (nch) is realised as /ᵑʧ/as in enchu for a house, nchaba for for I am digging up and nchebe for as me. 

Foreign consonants in Olunyala (K)

The two consonant sounds herunder are not natives of Olunyala (K) language.

1. The s and h (sh) /ʃ/pronounced as one sound. This is not common in Olunyala (K) words as it is only found in two borrowed interjections words of Olunyala: eishi and Shii.
2. The t and h (th) /θ/ pronounced as one sound as seen in only two borrowed interjection words of Olunyala where the sound exist: pthoo and ptho.

b) Consonant sound segments arising from combination with w

The letter w combines with many consonants to give rise to a contrastive consonant sound. For example [esa] for caterpillar is contrastive with [esʷa] for body hair.

When the w is combined with a consonant, the two sound segments, being released together, fuse into a new labialized sound segment that may qualify to be an independent consonant sound. This leads to the following eighteen sound segments worth considering as single consonants when dealing with syllable analysis.

1. fw /fʷ/ as in fwana for resemble, afwiye for has died and efwafwa for wondering jeow.
2. kw /kʷ/ as in okhukwa for to fall, kweya for a huge person sweeping and esikwakwata for funnel
3. lw /lʷ/as for amalwa for brew, lwange for mine and alwala for one being sick
4. nw /nʷ/ as for nwaana for I am struggling, ewuunwa for bull, munenwang'ene for term father to son and father to wife use to show how they relate to each other.
5. mw /mʷ/ as in mwemwenda for glow, omwiima for character and echemwa for banana.
6. pw /pʷ/ as in pwoka for arriving incognito, okhupwekukha for to bark and ekipwe for jackal
7. rw /rʷ/ as in okhulekherwa for to be forgiven, okhwirwaacha for to preach and; it is never used in initial position of Olunyala (k) words
8. sw /sʷ/as in eswa for white ant, esiswi for nest, swaka for pound and swala for peddle.
9. tw /tʷ/as in etwaya for cock, twekhera for making loose zoom sound and embetetwe for roasted corn seeds.
10. yw /jʷ/as in ehaywa for axe, nywesa for make it drink, amaywaywe for valley land.
11. chw /ʧʷ/as as in owuchwanjwanu, chwisa for tighten and amatoche for veranda
12. khw /xʷ/as in khwesa for pull, mukhwasi for brother-in-law and khwa for paying dowry.
13. mbw /ᵐbʷ/ as in embwa for dog, mbwekho for leave me alone and embwaho for I am going home and okhuambwa for getting trapped.
14. nchwa /ᵑʧʷ/as in ochwinchwi, nchwisise for I made it tight
15. ndw /ⁿdʷ/ as in esirindwa for grave heap, endwasi for weak body immunity and ndwaye for I became sick.
16. ngw /ᵑɡʷ/as in engwe for leopard, ngwiye for I fell
17. ng'w /ŋʷ/ as in amang'wari for foot and mouth desease.
18. njw /ⁿdʒʷ/ as in owuchwanjwanu for blackmail, ekhunjwe for African parrot and njwikhule for helping to offload from head.
19. nyw /ɲʷ/  as for okhunywa for to drink, nywana for having been soaked properly and okhunywania for to soak, esiminywi for a chick.

Based of comparison to neighbouring dialect, some of the words have the sounds consistently devoiced. The would be /dʷ/ then it is realised as /tʷ/ in Olunyala, /gw/ is realised as /kʷ/, /dʒʷ/ is realised as /ʧʷ/, /vʷ/ or /bʷ/  as /w/ while /zʷ/ is realised as /sʷ/.