Vowels and consonants are transcribed in accordance with the Swahili orthography.

Vowel

• Simple vowel (monophthong): /a, e, i, o, u/

• Compound vowel (diphthong): /ai, ei, au, ou/

Word-final high vowels /i/ and /u/ frequently alternate with zero; áshiki ~ áshik 'accuse', kuwési ~ kuwês ~ kwês 'good', jíbu ~ jîb 'bring' and tôb ~ tóbu 'tobe'.

Consonant

• Labial: /p, b, f, v, m/

• Coronal: /t, d, n, r, s, z, th [θ], dh [ð], sh [ʃ], ch [ʧ], j [ʤ], l/

• Dorsal: /k, g [ɡ], kh [x], gh [ɣ], ng' [ŋ], ny [ɲ], y [j]/

• Laryngeal: /' [ʔ], h/

• Double articulation /kw [kʷ], gw [ɡʷ], w/

The consonants /th, dh, kh, gh/ only appear in Swahili/Arabic loanwords and not really original to Nubi.

Nubi speakers in Buganda (Bombo, Kampala) often changes /sh/ into /s/; shoôr → soôr 'cause'.

Pre-nasalized velar stops are written as ng [ŋɡ] (not [nɡ]) and nk [ŋk] (not [nk]) to avoid ng'g/ng'k.

On occasion, an apostrophe is used to separate sounds (s'h [sh], not [ʃ]).

Lexical tones

• High (´) vs. Low (unmarked): áwá [áwá] 'paternal aunt' vs. áwa [áwà] 'watch out' , ána gí-já [ánàɡíʤá] 'I am coming' vs. ána bi-já [ánàbìʤá] 'I will come'

• Rising (ˇ) vs. High (´): sǐta [sǐtà] 'pepper' vs. síta [sítà] 'six', sǎra [sǎrà] 'witch' vs. sára [sárà] 'graze'

• Falling (^) vs. High (´): nyerekû [ɲèrèkû] 'child' vs. seregú [sèrèɡú] 'be stolen', asumâ 'names' vs. asumá 'be listened'

• A compound vowel is tone-marked as if it is a simple vowel. E.g. áu [áú] 'or' vs zambarâu [zàmbàráù] 'purple'

Sandhi

• Word-final vowels phonetically disappear when they are followed by a word beginning with a vowel; logó ána [lòɡánà] 'I was found', ashikí ána [àʃìkánà] 'I was accused', dúrubu úwo [dúrùbúwò] 'hit him', fustu ína [fùstínà] 'among us'.

• Sometimes a trace of the deleted vowel remains; tá-áju ásadu [táʤʷǎsàdù] 'you want to ask', án-sáma íta [ánsámětà] 'I have forgiven you'.

• In these cases, tones also change:
  ① v̀ + v̀ → v̀
  ② v́ + v́ → v́
  ③ v́ + v̀ → v̂
  ④ v̀cv̀ + v́ → v̀cv́
  ⑤ v́cv̀ + v́ → v́cv ̌

Notes on orthography

• This dictionary fully marks lexical tone for academic purposes, but it can be omitted in practice. For example, both áwá '(paternal) aunt' and áwa 'watch out' can be written awa, but the meaning is usually clear from the context.

• This dictionary also marks morpheme boundary with a hyphen (-), but this can also be omitted or substituted by a space ( ) in practice. For example, án-mâ-gí-já "I am not coming (I-not-be.doing-come)" can be written an ma gi ja, an magija, an ma gija, anmagija, and so on.