Illustrative Words for Consonants
The 18 consonants from Table 1 are illustrated in Table 2, with the orthographic versions shown in italics. DBP (2011, p. 178) lists dila (‘tongue’) as a Bisaya word and gives the Dusun equivalent as jila [ʤila]. However, the consultant insists that dila' is the traditional word in Dusun while many younger speakers prefer jila', so it seems that the contrast between dila' and jila' is not just a difference between Dusun and Bisaya as suggested by DBP (2011).
Table 2. Illustrative words for the consonants of Dusun
| /p/ | /palad/ | palad | 'palm (of the hand)' | /m/ | /mato/ | mato | 'eye' | |||
| /b/ | /bolow/ | bulou | 'blind' | /n/ | /nubuɣ/ | nubur | 'rice' | |||
| /t/ | /tulaŋ/ | tulang | 'bone' | /ɲ/ | /ɲaman/ | nyaman | 'delicious' | |||
| /d/ | /dilaʔ/ | dila' | 'tongue' | /ŋ/ | /ŋkajaw/ | ngkayau | 'liver' | |||
| /k/ | /kadat/ | kadat | 'forehead' | /s/ | /siku/ | siku | 'elbow' | |||
| /ɡ/ | /ɡiɣak/ | girak | 'to laugh' | /j/ | /jatim/ | yatim | 'orphan' | |||
| /ʧ/ | /inʧan/ | incan | 'cousin' | /w/ | /waluʔ/ | walu' | 'nine' | |||
| /ʤ/ | /ʤaɣi/ | jari | 'finger' | /l/ | /liaw/ | liau | 'neck' | |||
| /ɣ/ | /ɣabas/ | rabas | 'face' | /ʔ/ | /buluʔ/ | bulu' | 'bamboo' |
All consonants listed in the inventory can occur in initial position with the exception of /ʔ/ which only occurs in final position.