Continuing the discussion from O ou ɔ?, @Irene :
Here is a list work-in-progress comparison chart/table/list that anybody in the Forum can update or add to because it is a “wiki” post:
(NOTE: I didn’t include tone, but in some cases the weird are only minimal pairs if you ignore tone. For instance: fo (greet) vs fɔ (say). They differ in terms of O vs Ɔ, but they also differ tonally [fò vs fɔ́], which means that they are “near minimal pairs” only.]
| O-Word | Ɔ-Word |
|---|---|
| bo (excrement) | bɔ (go out) |
| dogo (hide) | dɔgɔ (little) |
| don (enter) | dɔn (know) |
| fo (greet; thank) | fɔ (say; play) |
| jo (right) | jɔ (stop, stand) |
| ko (affair) | kɔ (back) |
| kogo (wall) | kɔgɔ (salt) |
| kolon (worthless) | kɔlɔn (well) |
| kongo (bush) [Jula] | kɔngɔ (hunger) |
| lon (day) [Jula] | lɔn (know) [Jula] |
| sogo (meat) | sɔgɔ (pierce; lock) |
| son (thief) | sɔn (accept) |
| soso (mosquito) | sɔsɔ (beans) [Jula] |
| to (“tô” food dish) | tɔ (remainder) |
| wolo (be born) | wɔlɔ (partridge-like bird) |