Editing Fon language (section)

=== 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'.