Phonology Torres_Strait_Creole

vowel length language whole non-contrastive, though in subdialects/dialects appears contrastive.

consonants

the dental-alveolar contrast exists in western, central , cape york dialects, exists in other dialects in far either english or western-central influences force contrast, or voiced alveolar stop d realises rhotic tap r (e.g. western-central wasamada s matter/what s wrong , eastern/papuan wasamara). in papuan dialects, alveolar consonant r, while t , d can either dental (i.e. fall th , dh) or alveolar, according local language. in meriam influenced broken, t dental, while d alveolar.

p, b, th, dh, k , g aspirated stops (i.e. accompanied small puff of air ), , have fricative allophones, particularly p (thus [pʰ] — [ɸ], [bʱ] — [β], [t̪ʰ] — [θ], [d̪ʱ] — [ð], [kʰ] — [x], [ɡʱ] — [ɣ]) while s , z vary in pronunciation between [s⁓z] , [tʃ⁓dʒ]. these reflect indigenous language allophony rationalisation of larger english (and malay, etc.) consonant phoneme inventory. consonants t, d, m, n, l, w, y , ng not have major allophonic variation, while r varies between [ɾ] ~ [r] ~ [ɹ].