Telefol phonology

Consonants
and only appear in a few particles and some exclamations. and only appear in a few loans.

Vowels
There are two contrastive phonemic tones in Telefol, high and low. For example, ùlín 'club' vs. úlìn 'planted'.

and, and , are nearly in complementary distribution. Also, single /e/ and /o/ don't occur in one-syllable words or in terminal syllables.

Vowel length only contrasts in initial syllables. However, in initial syllables single and, and  and , don't contrast.

Phonotactics
Syllable structure is.

does not occur word-initially.

is allowed in medial, but not word-initial, onsets.