Nuu-chah-nulth sounds

Consonants
The 35 consonants of Nuu-chah-nulth:


 * 1) Of the alveolar consonants, nasal and laterals are apico-alveolar while the rest are denti-alveolar.
 * 2) Glottalized sonorants (nasals and approximants) are realized as sonorants with pre-glottalization. They are arguably conceptually the same as ejective consonants, though a preglottalized labial nasal could be analyzed as the stop–nasal sequence /ʔm/, as a nasal preceded by a creaky voiced (glottalized) vowel, or a combination of the two.
 * 3) The approximant is more often epiglottal and functions phonologically as a stop.

The pharyngeal consonants developed from mergers of uvular sounds; derives from a merger of  and  (which are now comparatively rare) while  came about from a merger of  and  (which are now absent from the language).

Vowels
Nuu-chah-nulth vowels are influenced by surrounding consonants with certain "back" consonants conditioning lower, more back vowel allophones

The mid vowels and  appear in vocative forms and in ceremonial expressions. is a possible realization of after a glottalized sonorant.

In the environment of glottalized resonants as well as ejective and pharyngeal consonants, vowels can be "laryngealized" which often means creaky voice.

In general, syllable weight determines stress placement; short vowels followed by non-glottalized consonants and long vowels are heavy. In sequences where there are no heavy syllables or only heavy syllables, the first syllable is stressed.

Nuu-chah-nulth has phonemic short and long vowels. Traditionally, a third class of vowels, known as "variable length" vowels, is recognized. These are vowels that are long when they are found within the first two syllables of a word, and short elsewhere.