Editing Beja language (section)

==Phonology==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+Consonants{{sfnm|1a1=Wedekind|1a2=Wedekind|1a3=Musa|1y=2004–2005|1loc=§26|2a1=Vanhove|2y=2014|2loc=§2.1}}
|-
! colspan="2" rowspan="2"|
! rowspan="2" | [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Dental consonant|Dental/<br />Alveolar]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Retroflex consonant|Retroflex]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! colspan="2" | [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
!<small>plain</small>
![[Labialization|<small>labialized</small>]]
|-
! colspan="2"| [[Nasal stop|Nasal]]
|{{IPAlink|m}}
|{{IPAlink|n}}
|({{IPAlink|ɳ}})
|({{IPAlink|ɲ}})
|({{IPAlink|ŋ}})
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2"|[[Plosive]]
!<small>voiceless</small>
|
|{{IPAlink|t}}
|{{IPAlink|ʈ}}
|
|{{IPAlink|k}}
|{{IPAlink|kʷ}}
|{{IPAlink|ʔ}}
|-
![[Voice (phonetics)|<small>voiced</small>]]
|{{IPAlink|b}}
|{{IPAlink|d}}
|{{IPAlink|ɖ}}
|{{IPAlink|ʤ}}
|{{IPAlink|ɡ}}
|{{IPAlink|ɡʷ}}
|
|-
! rowspan="2"| [[Fricative]]
!<small>voiceless</small>
|{{IPAlink|f}}
|{{IPAlink|s}}
|
|{{IPAlink|ʃ}}
|({{IPAlink|x}}) 
|
|{{IPAlink|h}}
|-
![[Voice (phonetics)|<small>voiced</small>]]
|
|({{IPAlink|z}})
|
|
|({{IPAlink|ɣ}})
|
|
|-
! colspan="2"|[[Trill consonant|Trill]]
|
|{{IPAlink|r}}
|
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2"|[[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
|{{IPAlink|w}}
|{{IPAlink|l}}
|
|{{IPAlink|j}}
|
|
|
|}

Nasals other than {{IPA|/m/}} and {{IPA|/n/}} are positional variants of {{IPA|/n/}}. The consonants {{IPA|/χ/}} and {{IPA|/ɣ/}} only appear in Arabic loanwords in some speakers' speech; in others', they are replaced by {{IPA|/k/}} or {{IPA|/h/}} and {{IPA|/g/}}. Some speakers replace {{IPA|/z/}} in Arabic loanwords with {{IPA|/d/}}.{{sfn|Wedekind|Wedekind|Musa|2004–2005|loc=§§31–32}}

Beja has the five vowels {{IPA|/a/}}, {{IPA|/e/}}, {{IPA|/i/}}, {{IPA|/o/}}, and {{IPA|/u/}}. {{IPA|/e/}} and {{IPA|/o/}} only appear long, while {{IPA|/a/}}, {{IPA|/i/}}, and {{IPA|/u/}} have long and short variants.{{sfn|Wedekind|Wedekind|Musa|2004–2005|loc=§§26, 30}}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
!
![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Central vowel|Central]]
![[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
![[Close vowel|Close]]
|{{IPAlink|i}} {{IPAlink|iː}}
|
|{{IPAlink|u}} {{IPAlink|uː}}
|-
![[Mid vowel|Mid]]
|{{IPAlink|eː}}
|
|{{IPAlink|oː}}
|-
![[Open vowel|Open]]
|
|{{IPAlink|a}} {{IPAlink|aː}}
|
|}

Beja has [[Pitch accent (intonation)|pitch accent]].{{sfn|Wedekind|Wedekind|Musa|2004–2005|loc=§27}}