The Phonemic Inventory of Muga: A Preliminary Study

This is a preliminary study on the phonemic inventory of Muga, a Kirat Rai language belonging to the Tibeto-Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. This language is spoken in the Pakhribas Municipality of the Dhankuta district of Nepal. In this preliminary study, there were 28 phonemes inventoried of which 6 are vowels and 22 are consonants in the language. The vowel system can be classified according to tongue height (high, mid, and low) and tongue position (front, central, and back). Similarly, the consonant system is described based on four parameters: place of articulation, manner of articulation, voicing, and aspiration.