Editing Kongo language (section)

== Phonology ==

{|class=wikitable style=text-align:center
|+caption|Consonant phonemes
! colspan="2" |
! [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! [[Coronal consonant|Coronal]]
! [[Dorsal consonant|Dorsal]]
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
|style=border-right:0| ''m'' {{IPAslink|m}}
|style=border-right:0| ''n'' {{IPAslink|n}}
|style=border-right:0| (''ng'' {{IPAslink|ŋ}})
|-
! rowspan="4" |[[Plosive consonant|Plosive]]
!{{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| style="border-right:0" |''p'' {{IPAslink|p}}
| style="border-right:0" |''t'' {{IPAslink|t}}
| style="border-right:0" |''k'' {{IPAslink|k}}
|-
!<small>[[prenasalized consonant|prenasal]]</small> {{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| style="border-right:0" |''mp'' {{IPAslink|ᵐp}}
| style="border-right:0" |''nt'' {{IPAslink|ⁿt}}
| style="border-right:0" |''nk'' {{IPAslink|ᵑk}}
|-
!{{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
|''b'' {{IPAslink|b}}
|''d'' {{IPAslink|d}}
|(''g'' {{IPAslink|ɡ}})<sup>1</sup>
|-
!<small>[[prenasalized consonant|prenasal]]</small> {{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
|''mb'' {{IPAslink|ᵐb}}
|''nd'' {{IPAslink|ⁿd}}
|''ng'' {{IPAslink|ᵑɡ}}<sup>2</sup>
|-
! rowspan="4" |[[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
!{{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| style="border-right:0" |''f'' {{IPAslink|f}}
| style="border-right:0" |''s'' {{IPAslink|s}}
|
|-
!<small>[[prenasalized consonant|prenasal]]</small> {{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| style="border-right:0" |''mf'' {{IPAslink|ᶬf}}
| style="border-right:0" |''ns'' {{IPAslink|ⁿs}}
|
|-
!{{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
|''v'' {{IPAslink|v}}
|''z'' {{IPAslink|z}}
|
|-
!<small>[[prenasalized consonant|prenasal]]</small> {{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
|''mv'' {{IPAslink|ᶬv}}
|''nz'' {{IPAslink|ⁿz}}
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
| style="border-right:0" | ''w'' {{IPAslink|w}}
| style="border-right:0" | ''l'' {{IPAslink|l}}
| style="border-right:0" | ''y'' {{IPAslink|j}}
|}

{|class=wikitable style=text-align:center
|+caption|Vowel phonemes
!
![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
![[Close vowel|High]]
|''i'' {{IPAslink|i}}
|''u'' {{IPAslink|u}}
|-
![[Mid vowel|Mid]]
|''e'' {{IPAslink|e̞}}
|''o'' {{IPAslink|o̞}}
|-
![[Open vowel|Low]]
|colspan=2|''a'' {{IPAslink|ä|a}}
|}
# The phoneme {{IPA|/ɡ/}} can occur, but is rarely used.
# May also be heard as a nasal sound.
There is contrastive [[vowel length]]. /m/ and /n/ also have [[syllabic consonant|syllabic]] variants, which contrast with prenasalized consonants.