The three central vowels /ʉ/,/ɵ/,/ə/ are all rounded.[8]
/i/ becomes a glide /j/ whenever it is followed by another vowel.[9]
The high back rounded vowel [u] occurs, but only as an allophone of /ʉ/ and /ə/ after labio-velar consonants. /ʉ/ always becomes [u] after a labio-velar, while /ə/ only becomes [u] in pre-tonic syllables, and then only optionally.[10]
The historical phoneme *l has shifted to /j/, which is unique within the Torres–Banks languages. /l/ only appears in loanwords.
Hiw is the only Austronesian language whose consonant inventory includes a prestopped velar lateral approximant/ɡ͡ʟ/; this complex segment is Hiw's only native liquid.[11] Historically, this complex segment was a voiced alveolar trill/r/ (which is why it is written as ⟨r̄⟩). The voiced alveolar trill, spelt as ⟨r⟩, appears in recent loanwords: e.g. Eng. bread > Hiw perët[pəret].[5] In some other, perhaps older, loanwords, alveolar trills have been borrowed as velar laterals: e.g. Eng. graveyard > Hiw kër̄ëvyat[keɡ͡ʟeβjat].[5]
Stress is predictable in Hiw, except in the case of words which only contain /ə/.
Generally, primary stress falls on the last syllable which does not contain /ə/. For example: [mɔˈwɪ] 'moon', [ˈwɔtəjə] 'maybe'. In the case of words whose only vowel is schwa, stress is unpredictable: thus [βəˈjə] 'pandanus leaf' is oxytone and [ˈtəpjə] 'dish' is paroxytone. These are the only polysyllabic words that may have a stressed schwa.
Polysyllabic words have secondary stress, which falls on every second syllable from the primary stressed syllable, going leftwards. For example: [ˌβəɣəˈβaɣə] 'speak'.[13]
Phonotactics
The syllable structure of Hiw is CCVC, where the only obligatory element is V:[11] e.g. /tg͡ʟɔɣ/ 'throw (PL)'; /βti/ 'star'; /kʷg͡ʟɪ/ 'dolphin'; /g͡ʟɵt/ 'tie'.
Hiw allows consonant gemination, word-medially and initially. These geminated consonants can be analyzed as C1C2 consonant clusters in which both consonants happen to be identical. An example of gemination is in /tin/ 'buy' vs /ttin/ 'hot'. Consonants and vowels may also be lengthened for expressive purposes, for example: /nemaβə/ ‘it’s heavy’ becomes [nemːaβə] ‘it’s so heavy!’.[14]
In syllable onsets, C1 may not be more sonorous than C2. Fricatives and plosives are not distinguished with regard to sonority.
Even though /w/ is always pronounced as an approximant, it is best treated as an obstruent with regards to sonority: this interpretation accounts for words like /wte/ 'small', which would otherwise constitute a sonority reversal.[16]
Phonological evidence shows that /ɡ͡ʟ/ patterns as a liquid, more sonorous than nasals but less sonorous than the glide /j/. Unlike the obstruents, /ɡ͡ʟ/ cannot be followed by a nasal. However, it can come after a nasal, as in /mɡ͡ʟe/ ‘wrath’. The only consonant found after /ɡ͡ʟ/ is /j/ - e.g. /ɡ͡ʟje/ ‘sweep’.[11]
In terms of lexical flexibility, Hiw has been assessed to be “grammatically flexible”, but “lexically rigid”.[18] The vast majority of the language's lexemes belongs to just one word class (noun, adjective, verb, adverb…); yet each of those word classes is compatible with a large number of syntactic functions.
Together with its neighbour Lo-Toga, Hiw has developed a rich system of verbal number, whereby certain verbs alternate their root depending on the number of their main participant.[21] Hiw has 33 such pairs of suppletive verbs, which is far more than is typical among languages that have this feature.[21]
Spatial reference in Hiw is based on a system of geocentric (absolute) directionals. That space system is largely reminiscent of the one widespread among Oceanic languages, yet also shows some innovations that make it unique.[22]
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