Toposa language

Phonology

Consonants

• All consonants can occur in labialized and palatalized forms.

  Vowels

• Toposa, like many Nilotic languages, has vowel harmony with two sets of vowels: a set with the tongue root advanced and a −ATR set. +ATR is marked. The vowel is neutral with respect to vowel harmony.
• All nine vowels also occur as devoiced, contrasting with their voiced counterparts. These voiceless vowels occur primarily in prepause contexts. Some Toposa morphemes consist only of a high voiceless vowel; the functional load appears to be much greater with the high vowels than with the lower.
• Toposa has tone, which is grammatical rather than lexical. Tone is used to mark case in nouns and tense in verbs.