Editing Nubi language (section)

===Vowels===
Sources:<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

There are five vowels in Nubi. Vowels are not distinguished by length except in at least two exceptions from Kenyan Nubi (which are not present in Ugandan dialects) where {{lang|kcn-KE|bara}} means ''"outside"'' and is an adverb while {{lang|kcn-KE|baara}} means ''"the outside"'' and is a noun, and also where {{lang|kcn-KE|saara}} meaning ''"bewitch"'' is compared to {{lang|kcn-KE|sara}} meaning ''"herd, cattle".'' Despite this, there is a tendency for vowels in stressed syllables to be registered as long vowels.<ref name=":1" />

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
!
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[High vowel|High]]
| {{IPAlink|i}}
| {{IPAlink|u}}
|-
! [[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| {{IPAlink|e}}
| {{IPAlink|o}}
|-
! [[Low vowel|Low]]
|colspan="2"| {{IPAlink|a}}
|}

Each of the vowels has multiple [[allophone]]s and the exact sound of the vowel depends on the surrounding consonants.<ref name=":1" />

====Consonants====
Sources:<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" |
! [[Bilabial consonant|Bilabial]]
! [[Dental consonant|Dental]]
! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Postalveolar consonant|Post<br>alveolar]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Uvular consonant|Uvular]]
! [[Pharyngeal consonant|Pharyngeal]]
! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Nasal stop|Nasal]]
| {{IPAlink|m}}
|
| {{IPAlink|n}}
| {{IPAlink|ɲ}}
|({{IPAlink|ŋ}})
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Plosive]]/<br>[[Affricate]]
!{{small|voiceless}}
| {{IPAlink|p}}
|
| {{IPAlink|t}}
| {{IPAlink|tʃ}}
| {{IPAlink|k}}
|({{IPAlink|q}})
|
|({{IPAlink|ʔ}})
|-
!{{small|voiced}}
| {{IPAlink|b}}
|
| {{IPAlink|d}}
| {{IPAlink|dʒ}}
| {{IPAlink|ɡ}}
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Fricative]]
!{{small|voiceless}}
| {{IPAlink|f}}
|({{IPAlink|θ}})
| {{IPAlink|s}}
| {{IPAlink|ʃ}}
|({{IPAlink|x}})
|
|({{IPAlink|ħ}})
| {{IPAlink|h}}
|-
!{{small|voiced}}
| {{IPAlink|v}}
|({{IPAlink|ð}})
| {{IPAlink|z}}
|
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Rhotic consonant|Rhotic]]
|
|
| {{IPAlink|r}}
|({{IPAlink|ɽ}})
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Lateral consonant|Lateral]]
|
|
| {{IPAlink|l}}
|
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Approximant]]
| {{IPAlink|w}}
|
|
| {{IPAlink|j}}
|({{IPAlink|w}})
|
|
|
|}

Speakers may use [[Arabic phonology|Standard Arabic phonemes]] for words for which the Arabic pronunciation has been learned. The [[Retroflex consonant|retroflex]] version of the /r/ sound may also occur and some dialects use /l/ in its place. [[Gemination|Geminates]] are very unusual in Nubi. These less common phonemes are shown in brackets.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

Ineke Wellens gives the following orthography for Nubi where it differs from the IPA symbols: /{{IPA|ʃ}}/ = sh; /t{{IPA|ʃ}}/ = ch; /{{IPA|dʒ}}/ = j; /{{IPA|ɲ}}/ = ny; /w/ = w or u; /j/ = y or i; /{{IPA|θ}}/ = th; /{{IPA|ð}}/ = dh; /x/ = kh; /{{IPA|ħ}}/ = ḥ.<ref name=":1" />

==== Syllable Structure ====
[[Syllable]]s typically have a CV, VC, V or CVC structure with VC only occurring in initial syllables. Final and initial CC occur only in a few specific examples such as {{lang|kcn|skul}} which means ''"school"'' or {{lang|kcn|sems}} which means ''"sun"''.<ref name=":0" />

[[Stress (linguistics)|Stress]] can change the meaning of words for example {{lang|kcn|saba}} means ''"seven"'' or ''"morning"'' depending on whether the stress is on the first or second syllables respectively. Vowels are often omitted in unstressed, final syllables and sometime even the stressed final ''"u"'' in the passive form may be deleted after ''"m", "n", "l", "f"'' or ''"b".'' This can cause syllables to be realigned even across words.<ref name=":0" />