Editing Consonant mutation (section)

=== Southern Oceanic languages ===
Mutation of the initial consonant of verbs is a feature of several languages in the [[Southern Oceanic languages|Southern Oceanic]] branch of the [[Austronesian language family]].

==== Central Vanuatu ====
Initial consonant mutation occurs in many [[Central Vanuatu languages]] like [[Raga language|Raga]]:

: ''nan '''v'''ano'' "I went"
: ''nam '''b'''ano'' "I go"

Those patterns of mutations probably arose when a nasal prefix, indicating the [[realis mood]], became combined with the verb's initial consonant.<ref>Crowley T, 1991. Parallel Development and Shared Innovation: Some Developments in Central Vanuatu Inflectional Morphology. ''Oceanic Linguistics'', Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 179-222</ref> The possible ancestral pattern of mutation and its descendants in some modern Central Vanuatu languages are shown below:

{| class="wikitable"
!Proto-Central Vanuatu
!*k > *ŋk
!*r > *nr
!*p > *mp
|-
| Raga (Pentecost)
| x > ŋg
| t > d
| v / vw > b / bw
|-
| Northern Apma (Pentecost)
| k > ŋg
| t > d
| v / w > b / bw
|-
| Southern Apma (Pentecost)
|
|
| v / w > b / bw
|-
| Ske (Pentecost)
|
| z > d
| v / vw > b / bw
|-
| Lonwolwol (Ambrym)
|
| r > rV
| ∅ > bV
|-
| Southeast Ambrym
| x / h / ∅ > g
| t > d
| v / h > b
|-
| Northern Paama
| ∅ > k
| t > r
|
|-
| Central/Southern Paama
| k / ∅ > g / ŋ
| t / r > d
|
|-
| Nāti (Malekula)
| k / ʔ > ŋk
| t / r > nt / ntr
| v / w > mp / mpw
|-
| Maii (Epi)
|
| t > d
| v > b
|-
| Lewo (Epi)
|
|
| v / w > p / pw
|-
| Lamenu (Epi)
|
|
| ∅ > p
|-
| Bierebo (Epi)
| k > ŋk
| t / c > nd / nj
| v / w > p / pw
|-
| Baki (Epi)
|
| c > s
| v > mb
|-
| Bieria (Epi)
|
| t > nd
| v > mb
|-
| Nakanamanga (Efaté-Shepherds)
| k > ŋ
| r > t
| v / w > p / pw
|-
| Namakir (Shepherds)
| k > ŋ
| t / r > d
| v / w > b
|}

==== New Caledonia ====
Initial consonant mutation also serves a grammatical purpose in some [[New Caledonian languages]]. For example, [[Iaai language|Iaai]] uses initial consonant mutation in verbs to distinguish between specific/[[definite]] objects and generic/indefinite objects:

{| class="wikitable"
!Mutation
!Determinate object
!Indeterminate object
!Meaning
|-
| k > x
| kap
| xəp
| "welcome"
|-
| l > hl
| lele
| hlihli
| "pull, haul in"
|-
|n > hn
| nəŋ
| hnəŋ
| "brandish"
|-
| ɳ > hɳ
| ɳooc
| hɳuuk
| "tie"
|-
| t > θ
| təəʈ
| θəəʈ
| "lift up by the end"
|-
| w > hw
| wia
| hwiəə
| "turn, change"
|-
| v > hv
| vɛɖen
| hvɛɛʈ
| "carry on the shoulder"
|}

Those forms likely derive from an earlier [[reduplication]] of the first syllable in which the interconsonantal vowel was deleted, resulting in a [[Lenition#Spirantization|spirantization]] of the formerly reduplicated consonant.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lynch |first=John |author-link=John Lynch (linguist) |date=2015 |title=The Phonological History of Iaai |url=https://c-cluster-110.uploads.documents.cimpress.io/v1/uploads/c77f9ffa-0e8a-4531-8460-b4b3483c3171~110/original?tenant=vbu-digital |journal=Journal of the Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea |issn=0023-1959 |volume=33}}</ref>