(CVV roots). That is, medial may be seen as allophones of . The initial consonant (C1) may be any but . The medial consonant (C2) may be . N may be . There are other vowel restrictions. V1 is always i in CVCV words when C1 is non-click palatal, for example. (This is because those sounds arose historically from alveolars followed by , which are still found in Naro.) Uvular(ized) consonants cause vowel lowering. Tone Gǀui may be analyzed as having two abstract phonemic tones, plus breathy voice, which is covered here rather than under vowels. Monosyllabic morphemes carry one of two tones, high and low. Bimoraic roots carry one of six tones: high-level, high-mid (or "high falling"), mid-low (or "mid"), low-mid dipping/rising, high falling (or "falling"), and low falling (or "low"). Low falling and low-mid are accompanied by a breathy voice phonation, the other four with a clear phonation. The high and low falling tones form a natural class, triggering for example a high tone on the suffix -si, whereas the other four root tones trigger a low tone on -si. That is, there are two tones on CV and V roots; two tones on bimoraic roots with breathy vowels, one of them falling; and four tones on bimoraic roots with other vowels, one of them falling. Thus there are four phonemic tones on CVCV, CVV, and CVN roots, the number expected if there are two possible tones on each mora, with moraic N carrying tone, though their contours are not simple juxtapositions of high/low + high/low. Dialect Khute References Nakagawa, Hirosi. 1995. "A Preliminary Report on the Click Accompaniments in ǀGui". Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 25.2, 49–63. Nakagawa, Hirosi. 1996. "An Outline of ǀGui Phonology". African Study Monographs, Suppl. 22, 101–124. Nakagawa, Hirosi. 2006. Aspects of the phonetic and phonological structure of the Gǀui language. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Witwatersrand. External links Gǀui basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database Khoe languages Languages of Botswana ru:Лъгана-цъгви