Inflectional Verbal Morphology

Stem-initial consonant mutation

See also Nominal morphology for the similar phenomenon in nouns.

Verb stems undergo a stem-initial consonant mutation as a form of inflection for plural subject. This follows one of two "tracks", depending on whether or not the stem-initial consonant is an implosive:

The non-implosive "track":

• (sg) continuants --> (pl) prenasalized stop
• (sg) voiceless oral stop, non-implosive --> (pl) prenasalized stop
• (sg) voiced oral stop, non-implosive --> (pl) prenasalized stop

The implosive "track":

• (sg) voiced implosive stop --> (pl) voiceless implosive stop