Editing Venda language (section)

==Phonology==
Venda distinguishes [[dental consonant|dental]] ''ṱ, ṱh, ḓ, ṋ, ḽ'' from [[alveolar consonant|alveolar]] ''t, th, d, n, l'' as well as (like in [[Ewe language|Ewe]]) [[labiodental]] ''f, v'' from [[bilabial]] ''fh, vh'' (the last two are slightly [[labialization|rounded]]). There are no clicks. As in other [[Languages of South Africa|South African languages]] like [[Zulu language|Zulu]], ''ph, ṱh, th, kh'' are aspirated and the "plain" stops ''p, ṱ, t,'' and ''k'' are [[ejective]].

===Vowels===
There are five vowel sounds in Tshivenḓa. 
{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
!
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| {{IPAlink|i}}
| {{IPAlink|u}}
|-
! [[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| {{IPAlink|ɛ}}
| {{IPAlink|ɔ}}
|-
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
| colspan="2" | {{IPAlink|a}}
|}

===Consonants===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! rowspan="2" colspan="2" |
! colspan="3" | [[Bilabial consonant|Bilabial]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Labiodental consonant|Labio-<br> dental]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Dental consonant|Dental]]
! colspan="4" | [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]/<br>[[Postalveolar consonant|Post-<br> alveolar]]
! colspan="2" | [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
!<small>plain</small>!!<small>lab.</small>!!<small>pal.</small>
!<small>plain</small>
!<small>sib.</small>!!<small>lab.</small>!!<small>pal.</small>
!<small>plain</small>!!<small>lab.</small>
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
|{{IPAlink|m}}
|
|{{IPAlink|mʲ}}
|({{IPAlink|ɱ}})
|{{IPAlink|n̪}}
|{{IPAlink|n}}
|
|
|
|{{IPAlink|ɲ}}
|{{IPAlink|ŋ}}
|{{IPAlink|ŋʷ}}
|
|-
! rowspan="3" |[[Plosive]]/<br>[[Affricate]]
!<small>ejective</small>
| {{IPAlink|pʼ}}
| {{IPAlink|pʷʼ}}
| {{IPAlink|pʲʼ}}
|{{IPAlink|p̪fʼ}}
| {{IPAlink|t̪ʼ}}
| {{IPAlink|tʼ}}
|{{IPAlink|tsʼ}}
|{{IPAlink|tsʷʼ}}
| {{IPAlink|tʲʼ}}
|{{IPAlink|tʃʼ}}
| {{IPAlink|kʼ}}
|
|
|-
! <small>aspirated</small>
| {{IPAlink|pʰ}}
| {{IPAlink|pʷʰ}}
| {{IPAlink|pʲʰ}}
|{{IPAlink|p̪fʰ}}
| {{IPAlink|t̪ʰ}}
| {{IPAlink|tʰ}}
|{{IPAlink|tsʰ}}
|{{IPAlink|tsʷʰ}}
|
|{{IPAlink|tʃʰ}}
| {{IPAlink|kʰ}}
|
|
|-
!<small>voiced</small>
| {{IPAlink|b}}
| {{IPAlink|bʷ}}
| {{IPAlink|bʲ}}
|{{IPAlink|b̪v}}
| {{IPAlink|d̪}}
| {{IPAlink|d}}
|{{IPAlink|dz}}
|{{IPAlink|dzʷ}}
| {{IPAlink|dʲ}}
|{{IPAlink|dʒ}}
| {{IPAlink|ɡ}}
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Fricative]]
!<small>voiceless</small>
| {{IPAlink|ɸ}}
|
|
| {{IPAlink|f}}
|
|
|{{IPAlink|s}}
| {{IPAlink|sʷ}}
|
| {{IPAlink|ʃ}}
| {{IPAlink|x}}
|
| {{IPAlink|h}}
|-
!<small>voiced</small>
| {{IPAlink|β}}
|
|
| {{IPAlink|v}}
|
|
|{{IPAlink|z}}
| {{IPAlink|zʷ}}
|
| {{IPAlink|ʒ}}
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Approximant]]
|
|
|
|
|{{IPAlink|l̪}}
|{{IPAlink|l}}
|
|
|
|{{IPAlink|j}}
|
| {{IPAlink|w}}
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Rhotic consonant|Rhotic]]
!<small>voiced</small>
|
|
|
|
|
|{{IPAlink|r}}
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
!<small>flap</small>
|
|
|
|
|
|{{IPAlink|ɺ}}
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|}

A labiodental nasal {{IPA|/ɱ/}} sound appears in prenasalised consonant sounds. Labiovelar sounds occur as alternatives to labiopalatal sounds and may also be pronounced {{IPA|/pkʰ pkʼ bɡ mŋ/}}.{{sfnp|Poulos|1990}} [[Fortition]] of {{IPA|/ɸ β s ʃ x h l̪ l r w/}} occurs after nasal prefixes, likely to {{IPA|[pʰ? b tsʰ tʃʰ kʰ? pʰ d̪ d d b]}}.<ref>Netshisaulu N.C & Nyoni A. 2021. Tshivenḓa Tsho Vhibvaho. World wide Publishers </ref>

===Tones===
Venda has a specified tone, {{sc|high}}, with unmarked syllables having a low tone. [[Phonetics|Phonetic]] falling tone occurs only in sequences of more than one vowel or on the penultimate syllable if the vowel is long. Tone patterns exist independently of the [[Consonant|consonants]] and vowels of a word and so they are [[word tone]]s. Venda tone also follows [[Meeussen's rule]]: when a word beginning with a high tone is preceded by that high tone, the initial high tone is lost. (That is, there cannot be two adjacent marked high tones in a word, but high tone spreads allophonically to a following non-tonic ("low"-tone) syllable.) There are only a few tone patterns in Venda words (no tone, a single high tone on some syllable, two non-adjacent high tones), which behave as follows:

{|class=wikitable
!Word!!Pattern!!After L!!After H!!Notes
|-
!thamana
| –.–.–
|thàmà:nà||thámâ:nà
|Unmarked (low) tone is raised after a high tone. That is, the preceding tone spreads.
|-
!dukana
| –.–.H
|dùkà:ná||dúkâ:ná
|A preceding high tone spreads but drops before the final high tone.
|-
!danana
| –.H.–
|dàná:nà||dánâ:nà
|rowspan=2|The pitch peaks on the tonic syllable, and a preceding non-adjacent high tone merges into it.
|-
!phaphama
| –.H.–
|phàphá:ná||pháphâ:nà
|-
!madzhie
| H.–
|má:dzhíè||mâ:dzhìè
|rowspan=3|Initial high tone spreads. With an immediately preceding high tone, that initial tone is lost.<br>(The preceding tone also spreads but not as far.)
|-
!dakalo
|H.–.–
|dáká:lò||dákà:lò
|-
!khokhola
| H.–.H
|khókhô:lá||khókhò:lá
|}