Editing Vertical vowel system (section)

==Vowel prosody system==

Complex interaction between a vertical vowel system and [[vowel harmony]], known as a '''vowel prosody system''', appears in many of the [[Central Chadic languages]]. One of the best known cases is [[Margi language|Margi]], but the phenomenon has been documented in more than thirty languages of the group altogether, including all or most languages of five geographically adjacent subgroups:
* Daba group: [[Buwal language|Buwal]], [[Daba language|Daba]], [[Mbudum language|Mbudum]], [[Hina language|Mina]]
* Hurza group: [[Mbuko language|Mbuko]], [[Vame language|Vame]]
* Musgum group: [[Mbara language (Chad)|Mbara]], [[Muskum language|Muskum]]
* Mafa group: [[Cuvok language|Cuvok]], [[Mafa language|Mafa]]
* Mofu group: [[Dugwor language|Dugwor]], [[Gemzek language|Gemzek]], [[Mada language|Mada]], [[Merey language|Merey]], [[Mofu-Gudur language|Mofu-Gudur]], [[Moloko language|Moloko]], [[Muyang language|Muyang]], [[Wuzlam language|Ouldeme]], [[Zulgo language|Zulgo]]
Further examples of the system of the appear in e.g. [[Gidar language|Gidar]] and [[Podoko language|Podoko]].

A typical feature for these languages is that vowel frontness or roundedness cannot be considered a [[segment (linguistics)|segmental]] feature but is instead a [[suprasegmental]] feature, spanning an entire [[morpheme]] or phonological [[word]]. All Central Chadic languages allow frontness as a prosody and therefore contrast minimal pairs such as {{IPA|[dam]}} vs. {{IPA|[dem]}}; only some allow roundedness as a prosody, and in others, rounded vowels are found only next to labialized velar consonants.