// is found predominately from loanwords, but, in some dialects, also from the voicing of // (e.g. ḥašbunā /xaʒbu:na:/, "counting", from the root ḥ-š-b, "to count") as in the Jilu dialect. /n/ can be pronounced [] before velar consonants [x] and [q] and as [] before labial consonants. In some speakers, a dental click (English "tsk") may be used para-linguistically as a negative response to a "yes or no" question. This feature is more common among those who still live in the homeland or in the Middle East, than those living in the diaspora. Vowels According to linguist Edward Odisho, there are six vowel phonemes in Iraqi Koine. They are as follows: , as commonly uttered in words like naša ("man; human"), is central for many speakers. It is usually in the Urmian and Nochiya dialects. For some Urmian and Jilu speakers, may be used instead. In those having a more pronounced Jilu dialect, this vowel is mostly fronted and raised to . In the Tyari and Barwari dialects, it is usually more back . , a long vowel, as heard in raba ("much; many"), may also be realised as , depending on the speaker. It is more rounded and higher in the Urmian dialect, where it is realised as . , heard in beta ("house") is generally diphthongised to in the Halmon dialect (a Lower Tyari tribe). To note, the [aj] diphthong is a vestigial trait of classical Syriac and thereby may be used in formal speech as well, such as in liturgy and hymns. , uttered in words like dədwa ("housefly"), is sometimes realised as (a schwa). The mid vowels, preserved in Tyari, Barwari, Baz and Chaldean dialects, are sometimes raised and merged with close vowels in Urmian and some other dialects: , as in gora ("big"), is raised to [u]. The Urmian dialect may diphthongise it to . , as in kepa ("rock"), is raised to . , as in tora ("bull") may be diphthongised to in some Tyari, Barwari, Chaldean and Jilu dialects. Across many dialects, close and close-mid vowels are lax when they occur in a closed syllable: or is usually realised as ; or is usually realised as . East Syriac dialects may recognize half-close sounds as and also recognize the back vowel as a long form of . Two basic diphthongs exist, namely and . For some words, many dialects have monophthongised them