Editing Nenets languages (section)

== Common features of Nenets languages ==
Tundra Nenets has 16 [[Grammatical mood|moods]], most of which reflect different degrees of certainty in what in English might be called [[Realis mood|indicative]] statements or different degrees of force in what in English might be called [[Imperative mood|imperative]] commands.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.helsinki.fi/~tasalmin/sketch.html|title=Tundra Nenets grammatical sketch|website=www.helsinki.fi|access-date=20 April 2018}}</ref>  An overarching feature of the Nenets languages is the introduction of systematic [[Palatalization (phonetics)|palatalization]] of almost all consonants. This originates from contrasts between different vowel qualities in the [[Proto-Samoyedic]] language.<ref name = "Sml88">{{citation
| last = Sammallahti
| first = Pekka
| author-link = Pekka Sammallahti
| year = 1988
| chapter = Historical phonology of the Uralic languages, with special reference to Samoyed, Ugric, and Permic
| title = The Uralic Languages: Description, History and Foreign Influences

| pages = 478–554
| publisher = Brill
| location = Leiden
}}</ref>
* *Cä, *Ca → *Cʲa, *Ca
* *Ce, *Cë → *Cʲe, *Ce
* *Ci, *Cï → *Cʲi, *Ci
* *Cö, *Co → *Cʲo, *Co
* *Cü, *Cu → *Cʲu, *Cu
The [[velar consonant]]s *k and *ŋ were additionally shifted to *sʲ and *nʲ when palatalized.

Similar changes have also occurred in the other Samoyedic languages spoken in the tundra zone: [[Enets language|Enets]], [[Nganasan language|Nganasan]] and the extinct [[Yurats language|Yurats]].