Editing Nobiin language (section)

===Consonants===
Consonant length is contrastive in Nobiin, e.g., {{lang|fia-Latn|dáwwí}} {{gloss|path}} vs. {{lang|fia-Latn|dáwí}} {{gloss|kitchen}}. Like vowel length, consonant length is not very stable; long consonants tend to be shortened in many cases (e.g., the Arabic loan {{lang|fia-Latn|dùkkáán}} {{gloss|shop}} is often found as {{lang|fia-Latn|dùkáán}}).

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+Consonant phonemes
|-
! colspan="2"|
! [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! rowspan="2"|[[Stop consonant|Stops]] and<br/>[[Affricate consonant|affricates]] 
!<small>[[Voicelessness|voiceless]]</small>
| {{IPAlink|p}}
| {{IPAlink|t}}
| {{IPAlink|cç}}
| {{IPAlink|k}}
|
|-
![[Voice (phonetics)|<small>voiced</small>]]
| {{IPAlink|b}}
| {{IPAlink|d}}
| {{IPAlink|ɟʝ}}
| {{IPAlink|ɡ}}
|
|-
! colspan="2"| [[Nasal consonant|Nasals]]
| {{IPAlink|m}}
| {{IPAlink|n}}
| {{IPAlink|ɲ}}
| {{IPAlink|ŋ}}
|
|-
! rowspan="2"| [[Fricative consonant|Fricatives]]
!<small>[[Voicelessness|voiceless]]</small>
| {{IPAlink|f}}
| {{IPAlink|s}} 
| {{IPAlink|ç}}
|
| ({{IPAlink|h}})
|-
![[Voice (phonetics)|<small>voiced</small>]]
|
| {{IPAlink|z}}
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2"| [[Trill consonant|Trill]]
|
| {{IPAlink|r}}
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2"| [[Approximant consonant|Approximants]]
|
| {{IPAlink|l}}
| {{IPAlink|j}}
| {{IPAlink|w}}
|
|}

The phoneme {{IPAslink|p}} has a somewhat marginal status as it only occurs as a result of certain morphophonological processes. The voiced plosive {{IPAslink|b}} is mainly in contrast with {{IPAslink|f}}. Originally, {{IPAblink|z}} only occurred as an [[allophone]] of {{IPAslink|s}} before voiced consonants; however, through the influx of loanwords from Arabic it has acquired phonemic status: {{lang|fia-Latn|àzáábí}} {{gloss|pain}}. The glottal fricative {{IPAblink|h}} occurs as an allophone of {{IPA|/s, t, k, f, ɡ/}}: {{lang|fia-Latn|síddó}} → {{lang|fia-Latn|híddó}} {{gloss|where?}}; {{lang|fia-Latn|tánnátóón}} → {{lang|fia-Latn|tánnáhóón}} {{gloss|of him/her}}; {{lang|fia-Latn|ày fàkàbìr}} → {{lang|fia-Latn|ày hàkàbìr}} {{gloss|I will eat}}; {{lang|fia-Latn|dòllàkúkkàn}} → {{lang|fia-Latn|dòllàhúkkàn}} {{gloss|he has loved}}. This process is unidirectional, i.e., /h/ will never change into one of the above consonants, and it has been termed {{gloss|consonant switching}} ({{lang|de|Konsonantenwechsel}}) by Werner.{{sfn|Werner|1987|p=36}} Only in very few words, if any, does [h] have independent phonemic status: Werner lists {{lang|fia-Latn|híssí}} {{gloss|voice}} and {{lang|fia-Latn|hòòngìr}} {{gloss|braying}}, but it might be noted that the latter example is less convincing because of its probably [[onomatopoeia|onomatopoeic]] nature. The alveolar liquids {{IPAslink|l}} and {{IPAslink|r}} are in [[free variation]] as in many African languages. The approximant {{IPAslink|w}} is a voiced labial-velar.