Editing Consonant mutation (section)

==== 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>