Noalath consonant mutation

In Noalath, initial consonants mutate in various inflectional paradigms. Sometimes these mutations are the sole distinctions between two cells in a paradigm, and sometimes they are accompanied by other elements (e.g. prepositions or affixes). In either case, there are two separate phenomena at work. The first are the consonant mutations themselves, of which there are three which are constant. The second is the way these mutations are used in particular paradigms. In this section, the specific mutations themselves will be detailed.

N-Mutation

N-mutation is a mutation that was effected by the presence of a preceding nasal. For example, in nouns, the preposition an effected nasal mutation in a following noun. Nasal mutation changes a following consonant as follows:

• Voiceless stops voice: p > b, t > d, ch > j, k > g
• Voiced obstruents nasalize: b > m, d > n, l > n, j > ny, g > ng
• Fricatives fortify: f > p, v > b, th > t, s > ts, sh > ch
• Rhotics fortify: r > d
• Glottals Disappear: h > Ø

Other consonants or initial vowels are unaffected.