Phonology
Consonants • All consonants (except, of course, for /w/ and /j/) 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 (+ATR) 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. ==Bibliography==