Eyak phonology

The following charts are based on the material in Krauss (1965); IPA equivalents are shown in square brackets. The orthography used by Krauss and the Eyak people is the same, substituting only A, L, and X for respective [ə], [ł], and [x̣].

Consonants

 * {| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center

! rowspan="2" colspan="2"| ! rowspan="2" | Bilabial ! colspan="2" | Alveolar ! rowspan="2" | Postalveolar / Palatal ! colspan="2" | Velar ! rowspan="2" | Uvular ! rowspan="2" | Glottal ! central ! lateral ! plain ! labial ! rowspan="4"| Stop ! voiced ! unaspirated ! aspirated ! ejective ! rowspan="3" | Affricate ! unaspirated ! aspirated ! ejective ! rowspan=2 | Fricative ! voiceless ! voiceless ! colspan=2 | Nasal ! colspan=2 | Approximant ! rowspan=2 | Trill ! voiceless ! voiced
 * - class=small
 * b
 * д
 * г
 * гw
 * Г
 * гw
 * Г
 * б
 * d
 * g
 * gw
 * G
 * gw
 * G
 * t
 * k
 * q
 * k
 * q
 * q
 * q
 * t’
 * k’
 * q’
 * k’
 * q’
 * q’
 * q’
 * dz
 * dl
 * dj
 * dj
 * ts
 * tl
 * ch
 * ch
 * ts’
 * tl’
 * ch’
 * ch’
 * f
 * s
 * L
 * ʃ
 * x
 * xw
 * X
 * h
 * v
 * z
 * Z
 * ʒ
 * ɣ
 * ɣw
 * Ɣ
 * H
 * m
 * n
 * ŋ
 * ŋ
 * ŋ
 * l
 * y
 * л
 * w
 * л
 * w
 * p
 * з
 * j
 * j
 * j
 * j
 * j
 * ʋ
 * r
 * я
 * }
 * я
 * }
 * я
 * }
 * }

The nasals [n] and [m] occur in loanwords; in native words, Krauss (1965) suggests that they can be interpreted as /l/ and /w/ (respectively) followed by a nasalized vowel. /b/ and /ŋ/ occur only in loanwords. Aspirated stops contrast with unaspirated stops only before vowels.

All consonants may be found stem-initially, except /h/, which is interpreted as zero. /h/ has the allophone [h] only word-initially or directly following a vowel.

Vowels

 * {|class="wikitable" style=text-align:center

! ! Front ! Central ! Back ! Close ! Mid ! Open
 * ÿ / i
 * ü / u
 * ü / u
 * e / ɛ
 * A
 * ʌ / ɔ
 * æ
 * a
 * o
 * }

In Krauss's terminology, vowels can be oral or nasal, with further modification by glottalization, aspiration, length, or a combination of glottalization and length. The only unmodified vowels are /i/, /A/ and /u/. Unmodified /A/ varies morphophonemically between [æ] and [e], so /ə/ serves as the basic form of both vowels. When orally modified, the nucleus of /e/ varies between [ɛ] and [æ], the nucleus of /a/ between [a] and [ɔ]. All vowels, regardless of their oral modification, are nasalized following /n/, with the exception of /e/ which is never nasalized.

In written Eyak, length is denoted by double letters and glottalization by ’, as in chi:shg "sand" or qi’GA’e’d "bed".

Prosody
All syllables begin with an onset, so that no two vowels may occur consecutively. Syllables can be counted exactly by number of vowels.

Eyak is not tonal, unlike many of the Athabascan languages to which it is related; nor does it have distinctive pitch. Stems are heavy syllables, whereas affixes tend to be light. Stress usually falls on stems and heavy syllables. In sequences of heavy syllables, the stress falls on the penultimate syllable, as in q'ahdi'lah "goodbye".