Editing Choctaw language (section)

===Consonants===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! rowspan="2" |
! rowspan="2" | [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! colspan="2" | [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! <small>[[Central consonant|central]]</small>
! <small>[[Lateral consonant|lateral]]</small>
|-
! [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}}
| {{IPA link|n}}
|
|
|
|
|-
! [[Stop consonant|Stop]]{{ref|1|1}}
| {{IPA link|p}} &nbsp; {{IPA link|b}}
| {{IPA link|t}}
|
|
| {{IPA link|k}}
| {{IPA link|ʔ}}{{ref|2|2}}
|-
! [[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
|
|
|
| ch [{{IPA link|tʃ}}]
|
|
|-
! [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
| {{IPA link|f}}
| {{IPA link|s}}{{ref|3|3}}
| {{IPA link|ɬ}}
| sh [{{IPA link|ʃ}}]{{ref|3|3}}
|
| {{IPA link|h}}
|-
! [[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
|
|
| {{IPA link|l}}
| y [{{IPA link|j}}]
| {{IPA link|w}}
|
|}

#{{note|1}} The only [[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]] stop is {{IPA|/b/}}. The [[Voicelessness|voiceless]] stops {{IPA|/p/}}, {{IPA|/t/}}, and {{IPA|/k/}} may become partially voiced between vowels, especially {{IPA|/k/}} and for male speakers. Also, the voiceless stops are slightly [[Aspirated consonant|aspirated]] at the onset of words<ref name="Broadwell15 2006">Broadwell (2006:15)</ref> and before stressed syllables, behaving like English voiceless plosives.
#{{note|2}} Controversially, some analyses suggest that all nouns end in an [[Underlying representation|underlying]] consonant phoneme.<ref name="Broadwell19-20 2006">Broadwell (2006:19-20)</ref> Nouns apparently ending in a vowel actually have a [[glottal stop]] {{IPA|/ʔ/}} or a [[voiceless glottal fricative|glottal fricative]] {{IPA|/h/}} as the final consonant. Such consonants become realized when suffixes are attached.
#{{note|3}} The distinction between phonemes {{IPA|/s/}} and {{IPA|/ʃ/}} is [[phoneme#Neutralization, archiphoneme, and underspecification|neutralized]] at the end of words.

====Free variation====
* There is [[free variation]] of some consonants in Choctaw with some speakers:<ref name="Broadwell15-20 2006">Broadwell (2006:15-20)</ref>
# /ɬ/, the voiceless lateral fricative, is pronounced as a voiceless dental fricative [θ]:<ref name="Broadwell15-20 2006" /> {{IPA|/ɬ/}}→{{IPA|[θ]}}.
# The voiceless labiodental fricative /f/ is pronounced as a voiceless bilabial fricative [ɸ]:<ref name="Broadwell15-20 2006" /> {{IPA|/f/}}→{{IPA|[ɸ]}}.

====Phonological processes of consonants====
* In Choctaw {{IPA|/k/}}, the [[voiceless velar plosive]], is often pronounced as {{IPA|[ɣ]}}, a [[voiced velar fricative]], between vowels.<ref name="Broadwell15 2006" />
: {{IPA|/k/}}→{{IPA|[ɣ]}}/V_V
: ''im-ofi-aki̱lih'' → [ɪmofiyəɣẽːlih]
: III-dog-indeed
: 'his own dog'

* The [[voiceless glottal fricative]] {{IPA|/h/}} is often pronounced like a [[voiceless palatal fricative]] {{IPA|[ç]}} when it precedes the [[voiceless palato-alveolar affricate]] {{IPA|/tʃ/}}.<ref name="Broadwell16 2006" />
: {{IPA|/h/}}→{{IPA|[ç]}}/_{{IPA|tʃ}}
: ''katihchish'' → [katɪçtʃɪʃ]
: 'how'