 The difference between bilabial consonants with and without a labio-velar release is relevant only before front vowels.There are seven phonemically distinct vowel qualities, with one long and one short vowel phoneme for each variety, plus a marginally phonemic .The distinction between mid and open-mid vowels is only phonemic after alveolar consonants, as in "tee" "axe" vs. "téé" "see".