Editing Fon language (section)

==Phonology==
[[Image:Fon Kwabo.jpg|thumb|right|"Welcome" (Kwabɔ) in Fon at a pharmacy at [[Cotonou Airport]] in [[Cotonou]], [[Benin]]]]

=== Vowels ===
Fon has seven oral vowel [[phonemes]] and five nasal vowel phonemes.
{|class=wikitable style="text-align: center"
|+caption | Vowel phonemes of Fon<ref name="Fon Grammar">{{cite book |title=A Grammar of Fongbe |pages=15–29 |author=Claire Lefebvre |author2=Anne-Marie Brousseau |isbn=3-11-017360-3 |year=2002 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter}}</ref>
|-
!rowspan=2|
!colspan=2|[[Oral vowel|Oral]]
!colspan=2|[[Nasal vowel|Nasal]]
|-
!<small>[[front vowel|front]]</small>
!<small>[[back vowel|back]]</small>
!<small>[[front vowel|front]]</small>
!<small>[[back vowel|back]]</small>
|-
![[Close vowel|Close]]
|{{IPAlink|i}}||{{IPAlink|u}}||{{IPAlink|ĩ}}||{{IPAlink|ũ}}
|-
![[Close-mid vowel|Close-Mid]]
|{{IPAlink|e}}||{{IPAlink|o}}||colspan=2|
|-
![[Open-mid vowel|Open-mid]]
|{{IPAlink|ɛ}}||{{IPAlink|ɔ}}||{{IPAlink|ɛ̃}}||{{IPAlink|ɔ̃}}
|-
![[Open vowel|Open]] 
|colspan=2|{{IPAlink|a}}||colspan=2|{{IPAlink|ã}}
|}

=== Consonants ===
{|class=wikitable style=text-align:center
|+caption | Consonant phonemes of Fon<ref name="Fon Grammar"/>
!
!colspan=2|[[Labial consonant|Labial]]
!colspan=2|[[Coronal consonant|Coronal]]
!colspan=2|[[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
!colspan=2|[[Velar consonant|Velar]]
!colspan=2|[[Labial-velar consonant|Labial<br />-velar]]
|-
!"[[Nasal stop|Nasal]]"
|colspan=2|{{IPAlink|m}} ~ {{IPAlink|b}}
|colspan=2|{{IPAlink|n}} ~ {{IPAlink|ɖ}}
|colspan=2|
|colspan=2|
|colspan=2|
|-
![[Occlusive]]
|style=border-right:0|({{IPAlink|p}})||style=border-left:0|
|style=border-right:0|{{IPAlink|t}}|| style="border-left:0" |{{IPAlink|d}}
|style=border-right:0|{{IPAlink|tʃ}}||style=border-left:0|{{IPAlink|dʒ}}
|style=border-right:0|{{IPAlink|k}}||style=border-left:0|{{IPAlink|ɡ}}
|style=border-right:0|{{IPAlink|kp}}||style=border-left:0|{{IPAlink|ɡb}}
|-
![[Fricative]]
|style=border-right:0|{{IPAlink|f}}||style=border-left:0|{{IPAlink|v}}
|style=border-right:0|{{IPAlink|s}}|| style="border-left:0" |{{IPAlink|z}}
|colspan=2|
|style=border-right:0|{{IPAlink|x}}||style=border-left:0|{{IPAlink|ɣ}}
|style=border-right:0|{{IPAlink|xʷ}}||style=border-left:0|{{IPAlink|ɣʷ}}
|-
![[Approximant]]
|colspan=2|
|colspan=2|{{IPAlink|l}} ~ {{IPAlink|ɾ}}
|colspan=2|{{IPAlink|ɲ}} ~ {{IPAlink|j}}
|colspan=2|
|colspan=2|{{IPAlink|w}}
|}
{{IPA|/p/}} occurs only in [[linguistic mimesis]] and loanwords but is often replaced by {{IPA|/f/}} in the latter, as in ''cɔ́fù'' 'shop'. Several of the voiced occlusives occur only before oral vowels, and the [[homorganic]] nasal stops occur only before nasal vowels, which indicates that {{IPA|[b] [m]}} and {{IPA|[ɖ] [n]}} are [[allophone]]s. {{IPA|[ɲ]}} is in free variation with {{IPA|[j̃]}} and so Fong can be argued to have no phonemic nasal consonants, a pattern rather common in West Africa.{{efn|This is a matter of perspective; it could also be argued that {{IPA|[b]}} and {{IPA|[ɖ]}} are denasalized allophones of {{IPA|/m/}} and {{IPA|/n/}} before oral vowels.}} {{IPA|/w/}} is nasalized (to {{IPA|[ŋʷ]}}) before nasal vowels, and may assimilate to {{IPA|[ɥ]}} before {{IPA|/i/}}. {{IPA|/l/}} is sometimes also nasalized.{{what|date=December 2023}}

The only consonant clusters in Fon have {{IPA|/l/}} or {{IPA|/j/}} as the second consonant. After (post)alveolars, {{IPA|/l/}} is optionally realized as {{IPA|[ɾ]}}: ''{{lang|fon|klɔ́}}'' 'to wash', {{lang|fon|wlí}} 'to catch', {{lang|fon|jlò}} {{IPA|[d͡ʒlò] ~ [d͡ʒɾò]}} 'to want'.

=== Tone ===
Fon has two phonemic [[tone (linguistics)|tones]]: high and low. High is realized as rising (low–high) after a voiced consonant. Basic disyllabic words have all four possibilities: high–high, high–low, low–high, and low–low.

In longer [[phonological word]]s, such as verb and noun phrases, a high tone tends to persist until the final syllable, which, if it has a phonemic low tone,  becomes falling (high–low). Low tones disappear between high tones, but their effect remains as a [[downstep]]. Rising tones (low–high) simplify to high after high (without triggering downstep) and to low before high.

{{interlinear|indent=2|lang1=fon|ipa2=yes|ipa3=yes|glossing4=yes
|Hwevísatɔ́, é ko hɔ asón we.
|/xʷèví-sà-tɔ́ é kò xɔ̀ àsɔ̃́ wè/
|[xʷèvísáꜜtɔ́‖ é kó ꜜxɔ̂ àsɔ̃́ wê‖]
|fish-sell-agent s/he PERF buy crab two
|"The fishmonger, she bought two crabs."}}

In [[Ouidah]], a rising or falling tone is realized as a mid tone. For example, {{lang|fon|mǐ}} 'we, you', phonemically high-tone {{IPA|/bĩ́/}} but phonetically rising because of the voiced consonant, is generally mid-tone {{IPA|[mĩ̄]}} in Ouidah.