This small consonant inventory is typical of Lakes Plain languages.[3] The complete lack of nasals is also a feature of these languages.
There are however several notable allophonic variants:
/d/ is realized as [d~l] word-initially, [ɾ~l] between vowels or following another consonants, and as [d̚] syllable-finally.
/k/ is realized as [g̚] syllable-finally. When followed by a vowel, the sequence /ik/ is realized as a syllabic fricative [ɣ̩]. The sequence /iko/ further varies with [u.o].
[ɸ] is in free variation with a glottal fricative [h].
/i/ before another vowel is realized as either a semivowel [j] or an affricate [dʒ] (the latter when following /k/ or when between two low vowels (/ɛ/ or /a/).
Many other Lakes Plain languages have developed a series of extra high "fricativized" vowels from the loss of a final consonant.[3] In Sikaritai the final consonants have been retained; however, extra-high [i] and [u] appear as allophones of /i/ and /u/ before final /g/ and /d/. Martin postulates that Sikaritai is in the process of developing contrastive fricativized vowels as other Lakes Plain languages have done.
Tone
The language has a two-height tone system with H and L tone. More than one tonal element can appear on a single syllable.
^Martin, David (1991). "Sikaritai phonology". Workpapers in Indonesian Languages and Cultures. 9: 91–120.
^ abClouse, Duane (1997). "Toward a reconstruction and reclassification of the Lakes Plain languages of Irian Jaya". Papers in Papuan Linguistics. 3: 133–236.