Editing Sango language (section)

== Phonology ==
=== Vowels ===
Sango has seven oral and five nasal vowels.<ref name="karan_phonology" /> Vowel quality and number of nasalized vowels may be affected by the mother tongue of non-native speakers of Sango.<ref name="karan_phonology" />

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Sango vowels<ref name="karan_phonology">{{Harvcoltxt|Karan|2006|loc=12.5 The phonology of Sango}}</ref>
! rowspan="2" | &nbsp;
! colspan="2" | [[Oral vowel]]s
! colspan="2" | [[Nasal vowel]]s
|-
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
! Front
! Back
|-
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| align="center" | {{IPA link|i}}
| align="center" | {{IPA link|u}}
| align="center" | {{IPA link|ĩ}}
| align="center" | {{IPA link|ũ}}
|-
! [[Close-mid vowel|Close-mid]]
| align="center" | {{IPA link|e}}
| align="center" | {{IPA link|o}}
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
|-
! [[Open-mid vowel|Open-mid]]
| align="center" | {{IPA link|ɛ}}
| align="center" | {{IPA link|ɔ}}
| align="center" | {{IPA link|ɛ̃}}
| align="center" | {{IPA link|ɔ̃}}
|-
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
| colspan="2" align="center" | {{IPA link|a}}
| colspan="2" align="center" | {{IPA link|ã}}
|}

=== Consonants ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ Sango consonants<ref name="walker">{{Harvcoltxt|Walker|Samarin|1997}}</ref><ref name="karan_phonology" />
! colspan="2" |
! [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! [[Dental consonant|Dental]]
! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Labial–velar consonant|Labial-<br />velar]]
! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! rowspan="3" | [[Plosive]]
! {{small|voiceless}}
| {{IPA link|p}}
| {{IPA link|t}}
|
|
| {{IPA link|k}}
| {{IPA link|k͡p}}
|
|-
! {{small|voiced}}
| {{IPA link|b}} ({{IPA link|ɓ}})
| {{IPA link|d}}
|
|
| {{IPA link|ɡ}}
| {{IPA link|ɡ͡b}}
|
|-
! {{small|prenasal}}
| {{IPA link|ᵐb}}
| {{IPA link|ⁿd}}
|
|
| {{IPA link|ᵑɡ}}
| {{IPA link|ᵑ͡ᵐɡ͡b}}
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}}
| {{IPA link|n}}
|
|
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan="3" | [[Fricative]]
! {{small|voiceless}}
| {{IPA link|f}}
|
| {{IPA link|s}}
|
|
|
| {{IPA link|h}}
|-
! {{small|voiced}}
| {{IPA link|v}}
|
| {{IPA link|z}}
|
|
|
|
|-
! {{small|prenasal}}
| ({{IPA link|ᶬv}})
|
| {{IPA link|ⁿz}}
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Rhotic consonant|Rhotic]]
|
|
|{{IPA link|r}}
|
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Approximant]]
! {{small|plain}}
|
|
| {{IPA link|l}}
| {{IPA link|j}}
|
| {{IPA link|w}}
|
|-
! {{small|prenasal}}
|
|
|
| {{IPA link|ⁿj}}
|
|
|
|}

Palatal affricates occur in loan words and certain dialects.<ref name="karan_phonology" /> Some dialects have alternations between [ᶬv] and [m], [ᵐb] and [ᵑ͡ᵐg͡b], [ᵐb] and [b], word-medial [l] and [r], and word-initial [h] and [ʔ].<ref name="karan_phonology" /> [ᶬv] is quite rare.<ref name="karan_phonology" />

=== Syllable structure ===
Syllable structure is generally CV.<ref name="karan_phonology" /> Consecutive vowels are rare but do occur.<ref name="karan_phonology" /> Consonants may be palatalized or labialized, orthographically C{{angle bracket|i}} and C{{angle bracket|u}}, respectively.<ref name="karan_phonology" />

Words are generally monosyllabic or bisyllabic but less commonly are trisyllabic.<ref name="karan_phonology" /> Four-syllable words are created via [[reduplication]] and compounding, and may also be written as two words (''kêtêkêtê'' or ''kêtê kêtê'' 'tiny bit', ''walikundû'' or ''wa likundû'' 'sorcerer').<ref name="karan_phonology" />

=== Tone ===
Sango is a tonal language. The language has three basic tones (high, mid, and low), with contour tones also occurring, generally in French loanwords.<ref name="karan_phonology" /> Tones have a low [[functional load]], but [[minimal pair]]s exist: ''dü'' 'give birth' versus ''dû'' 'hole'.

Monosyllabic loan words from French usually have the tone pattern high-low falling (''bâan'' 'bench' from French ''banc''). In multisyllabic words all syllables carry low tone except the final syllable, which is lengthened and takes a descending tone. The final tone is generally mid-low falling for nouns (''ananäa'' 'pineapple' from French ''ananas'') and high-low falling for verbs (''aretêe'' 'to stop' from French ''arrêter'').

In isolation, tones have [[idiolect]]al variation, and they may also be affected by the mother language of non-native speakers.<ref name="karan_phonology" />