The Neo-Dalmatian language has 22 letters, namely:
a b è d e f g i k l m n o p r s š t u v y z ž
Neo-Dalmatian has 5 vowels, which are constant in pronunciation, whether stressed or unstressed. There are no reduced vowels in the Neo-Dalmatian language.
a - Similar to the a in French avion: drat "right", ra "king", blasmár "to blame".
e - Similar to e in Spanish el and Romanian zece: venér "to come", venè "twenty", ven "wine".
i - Like in Romanian bine: vièáin "neighbour", ki "who".
o - As in Spanish soy and Italian sono: dolk "soft", yuarból "tree", yómno "man".
u - Like in Romanian fumos and Spanish tu: yu su "I am", kluf "key", pakúr "to pay".
There are no long vowels in the Neo-Dalmatian language, only stressed and unstressed. Accents are used only to indicate stress.
Neo-Dalmatian has 8 diphthongs. All can occur in any syllable, stressed or unstressed:
---------Orals---------
Velars Palatals Dentals Labials
Stops - Voiceless k t p
- Voiced g d b
Nasals - Voiceless
- Voiced n m
Fricatives - Voiceless š s f
- Voiced y, ž z v
Laterals - Voiceless
- Voiced l
Trills - Voiceless
- Voiced r
Affricates - Voiceless è c
- Voiced dz
The Neo-Dalmatian voiceless stops k, t, and p are lightly aspirated, as in Romanian, and can occur in any position, e.g. puárta "door", kráskra "to grow", kia "that", struóta "street", pakúr "to pay", páila "girl".
The lenes b, d, and g are completely voiced stops as in Romanian, e.g. drat "right", bar "to drink", diant "tooth", blasmár "to blame", glas "ice", baud "voice".
The nasals n and m are the same as in Italian and Romanian, e.g. miárla "blackbird", yómno "man", kantúr "to sing".
The palatal fricative y is not a semi-vowel, rather it is a real fricative, e.g. yuarból "tree", yárba "grass", yómno "man".
The voiceless palatal sibilant š is articulated like French ch, e.g. šiflar "to whistle". Its voiced counterpart is ž, which occurs only in loanwords, e.g. garáž "garage".
The voiceless dental sibilant s and its voiced counterpart z are pronounced as in Romanian and French, e.g. seráura "sister", gars "boy", sapáun "soap", zébra "zebra".
The lateral l is always articulated as in French lune and never as in feuille, e.g. dzuol "yellow", dolk "soft", páila "girl", lánga "language; tongue".
The voiced trill r is pronounced like in Romanian român, e.g. kráskra "to grow", grun "grain", regiuán "region".
The voiceless labio-dental fricative f and its voiced counterpart v are articulated as in Romanian and French, e.g. venè "twenty", kluf "key", fóima "smoke", vièáin "neighbour".
The voiceless hard palate affricate è is as the c in Italian cinque, e.g. venè "twenty", vièáin "neighbour".
The affricate dz is found only at the beginning of a word, e.g. dzuol "yellow".
There are no geminated consonants in Neo-Dalmatian.
