the most evil, used only to kill or disable people. Language contact The Mangap-Mbula are part of a previously extensive trading network with bordering language groups, especially those in the Ngero language group of the Siassi islands which formed the hub of the trading network. As a result, approximately 65% of Mbula speakers are at least somewhat bilingual in Tok Pisin and some 30% speak and understand some Ngero. Due to missionization and other factors, 35% can speak and write English. Phonology Consonants The consonant phonemes of Mbula are as shown in the following table: The consonant is realised as intervocalically. Prenasalised stops, while requiring two phonetic units, exist as a single phonemic unit. The palatal glide is treated as being underlyingly vocalic in morphophonemic analysis while the labio-velar glide is analysed consonantally. All voiceless plosives, , are optionally pronounced with a voiceless nasal release word finally. All velars are fronted or backed, depending on the vowel immediately contiguous to them within the same syllable. is palatalized to a voiceless, laminal, post-alveolar plosive when followed by a morpheme boundary and . Vowels Mbula has five vowel phonemes as shown in the following table. Phonetically front vowels are unrounded and back vowels are rounded. and can be lax or tense and can be half close tense and half open lax. All vowels can be short or long, though this is interpreted in the phonology as a sequence of two vowels rather than as the existence of long vowel phonemes. The two high vowels and are lowered slightly when followed by , , or . Vowels are subject to two rules: penultimate lengthening, which means that external realisations may be long vowels while the underlying form is a short vowel, and epenthesis, which means the insertion of a vowel where the underlying form of the morpheme does not contain one. Epenthesis is regressive, which means that epenthetic vowels take on the quality of the first vowel in the rest of the form. Vowel length is contrastive as can be seen in the following examples: – 'long' – a type of ant – 'domestic animal' – 'new shoot of a plant' – 3SG 'be heavy' – 3SG 'reads' Suprasegmentals The placement of stress is predictable. In most words, primary stress falls on the penultimate syllable. Syllable patterns Syllable structure is generally (C)V(C). VV can sometimes form a syllable in the case of a