Initial Consonants
The following table shows the consonant sounds of Standard Nereidic, all of which occur in the onset position of syllables. There are 20 consonant phonemes in the inventory. The rostral stops and rostral fricatives have a two-way voicing distinction. The stop/sibilant consonants, however, have a fortis-lenis distinction, in which the fortis consonants are aspirated while the lenis consonants appear either voiced (at the beginning of words or when preceded by an open syllable) or voiceless unaspirated (when preceded by a breathy or stopped syllable). The non-sibilant fricatives are voiced when preceded by an open syllable.
| Labial | Cavital | Velar | ||
| Rostral Stop | voiced | m | ŋ | |
| voiceless | m̥ | ŋ̊ | ||
| Rostral Fricative | voiced | m͈ | ŋ͈ | |
| voiceless | m͈̊ | ŋ͈̊ | ||
| Stop /Sibilant | fortis | p | s | k |
| lenis | b | z | g | |
| Non-Sibilant | ɸ | ɬ | x | |
| Glide | w | l | j | |
Vowels
Standard Nereidic has only three vowel phonemes based solely on precavital constriction: low /a/, mid /r/, and high /l/. The exact phonetic realization of these vowels, however, are dependent on the type of medial present in the syllable (or lack there of) and whether the syllable is full or reduced, as outlined in the table below.
| /-/ | /w/ | /j/ | ||
| /a/ | full | [a] | [uo̯] | [ie̯] |
| reduced | [ə] | [ʷʊ] | [ʲɪ] | |
| /r/ | full | [a˞] | [uɚ̯] | [iɚ̯] |
| reduced | [ɚ] | [ʷɚ] | [ʲɚ] | |
| /l/ | full | [l̩ˤ] | [ul̯ʷˤ] | [il̯ˤ] |
| reduced | [l̩] | [ʷl̩] | [ʲl̩] | |
Final Consonants / Phonation
Syllables in Nereidic can end in one of two ways: open or closed. Open syllables end in either a vowel or a modal rostral consonant. Closed syllables end in either a glottal stop, a glottal fricative, or a glotalized rostral consonant. An alternate analysis treats the glottal articulations as different phonations, so in essence there is only one final consonant /N/ along with three phonations (modal, glotal, and breathy). The glottal endings, however, frequently assimilate to adjacent consonants and can affect voicing.
Syllable Structure
The basic syllable structure can be summarized by the following formula: (C)(L)(G)V(N)(H). An optional onset consonant (C) can be followed by an optional lateral medial (L) which can in turn be followed by a glide medial (G), while the coda features an optional nasal (N) and some glottal articulation or phonation (H). For example, a simple syllable might be <mar> [ma˞] while a more complex syllable might be <mmlienq> [m͈lie̯ŋˀ].
Stress
Standard Nereidic has a fix iambic stress pattern, in which the primary stress is always on the last syllable. The rhymes of unstressed or non-prominent syllables typically undergo reduction (see the reduced vowels in the vowel chart above).