Editing Mbula language (section)

==Phonology==

===Consonants===
The [[consonant]] [[phonemes]] of Mbula are as shown in the following table:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ Consonant phonemes
! colspan="2" |
! [[Bilabial consonant|Bilabial]]
! [[Dental consonant|Dental]]/<br>[[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}}
| {{IPA link|n}}
| {{IPA link|ŋ}}
|-
! rowspan="3" | [[Plosive]]
! {{small|voiceless}}
| {{IPA link|p}}
| {{IPA link|t}}
| {{IPA link|k}}
|-
! {{small|voiced}}
| {{IPA link|b}}
| {{IPA link|d}}
| {{IPA link|ɡ}}
|-
! {{small|prenasal}}
| {{IPA link|ᵐb}}
| {{IPA link|ⁿd}}
| {{IPA link|ᵑɡ}}
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Fricative]]
! {{small|voiceless}}
|
| {{IPA link|s}}
|
|-
! {{small|voiced}}
|
| {{IPA link|z}}
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Lateral consonant|Lateral]]
|
| {{IPA link|l}}
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Trill consonant|Trill]]
|
| {{IPA link|r}}
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Glide consonant|Glide]]
| {{IPA link|w}}
| {{IPA link|j}}
|
|}

The consonant {{IPA|/b/}} is realised as {{IPAblink|β}} intervocalically. Prenasalised stops, while requiring two phonetic units, exist as a single phonemic unit. The palatal glide {{IPA|/j/}} is treated as being underlyingly vocalic in morphophonemic analysis while the labio-velar glide {{IPA|/w/}} is analysed consonantally. All voiceless plosives, {{IPA|/p t k/}}, are optionally pronounced with a voiceless nasal release word finally. All velars are fronted or backed, depending on the vowel immediately contiguous to them within the same syllable. {{IPA|/t/}} is palatalized to a voiceless, laminal, post-alveolar plosive when followed by a morpheme boundary and {{IPA|/i/}}.

===Vowels===
Mbula has five vowel phonemes as shown in the following table. Phonetically front vowels are unrounded and back vowels are rounded. {{IPA|/i/}} and {{IPA|/u/}} can be lax or tense and {{IPA|/e/}} can be half close tense and half open lax. All vowels can be short or long, though this is interpreted in the phonology as a sequence of two vowels rather than as the existence of long vowel phonemes. The two high vowels {{IPA|/i/}} and {{IPA|/u/}} are lowered slightly when followed by {{IPA|/e/}}, {{IPA|/o/}}, or {{IPA|/a/}}.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ Vowel phonemes
|-
!
![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Central vowel|Central]]
![[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
|{{IPA link|i}} || || {{IPA link|u}}
|-
![[Mid vowel|Mid]]
|{{IPA link|e}} || || {{IPA link|o}}
|-
![[Open vowel|Open]]
| || {{IPA link|a}} ||
|}

Vowels are subject to two rules: penultimate lengthening, which means that external realisations may be long vowels while the underlying form is a short vowel, and epenthesis, which means the insertion of a vowel where the underlying form of the morpheme does not contain one. [[Epenthesis]] is regressive, which means that epenthetic vowels take on the quality of the first vowel in the rest of the form. Vowel length is contrastive as can be seen in the following examples:

{| {{table}}
! short
! long
|-
| {{IPA|[molo]|lang=mna}} – 'long'
| {{IPA|[moːlo]|lang=mna}} – a type of ant
|-
| {{IPA|[mbili]|lang=mna}} – 'domestic animal'
| {{IPA|[mbiːli]|lang=mna}} – 'new shoot of a plant'
|-
| {{IPA|[ipata]|lang=mna}} – {{gcl|3SG}} 'be heavy'
| {{IPA|[ipaːta]|lang=mna}} – {{gcl|3SG}} 'reads'
|}

===Suprasegmentals===
The placement of stress is predictable. In most words, primary stress falls on the penultimate syllable.

===Syllable patterns===
[[Syllable]] structure is generally (C)V(C). VV can sometimes form a syllable in the case of a [[diphthong]] or long vowel and syllable structure can be analysed as CCV when {{IPA|/w/}} or {{IPA|/j/}} is analysed as a C.