ber’ kaaba 'dance performance, knot in bamboo (etc.)' > kaab’ kaba 'oar, paddle' > kab’Such elision is rare or sporadic in Kalau Kawau Ya. Final unstressed vowel devoicing In Kalaw Lagaw Ya, such final vowels in correct language are devoiced, and deleted in colloquial language, except in a small class of words which include bera 'rib', where there is a short vowel in the stem and in which the final vowel is permanently deleted, with compensatory lengthening of the final consonant (thus berr). Strictly speaking, the process is not final vowel devoicing, but rather stressed vowel lengthening accompanied by final vowel devoicing — except in the case of words such as bera 'rib' > berr, where the process is final consonant lengthening by the final vowel being 'incorporated' into the consonant. Note that in the following the word-final capital letter represents a devoiced vowel:maalu 'sea' > maalU > maal’waapi 'fish' > waapI > waap’thaathi 'father' > thaathI > thaath’ (Badhu variant thath’)waaru 'turtle' > waarU > waar’ngadha 'appearance, looks' > ngaadhA > ngaadh’mœràpi 'bamboo' > mœrààpI > mœrààp’bera 'rib' > berrkaba 'dance performance, knot in bamboo (etc.)' > kaabA > kaabkaba 'oar, paddle' > kabbIn declined forms of such words, the long vowel is shortened, and the final vowel voiced, and in words like ber 'rib' the final vowel often reappears:maalU 'sea' + -ka 'dative' > malukawaapI 'fish' > wapikathaathI 'father' > thathikawaarU 'turtle' > warukangaadhA 'appearance, looks' > ngadhakamœrààpI 'bamboo' > mœràpikaber 'rib' > beraka, berkakaabA 'dance performance, knot in bamboo (etc.)' > kabakakab 'oar, paddle' > kabaka, kabkaThis vowel shortening in affixed/modified forms exists in all dialects, however the other dialects have retained contrastive length to some extent, whereas Kalaw Lagaw Ya has largely lost it for 'morphophonological' length, where the stressed vowel in non-emotive words (see below) of one or two syllables is automatically lengthened in the nominative-accusative; this also applies to words of three syllables with second syllable stress (as in mœrààpI 'bamboo'). One of the very few length contrasts in the Kalaw Lagaw Ya dialect is kaaba 'dance performance, knot in bamboo etc.' vs kaba, kab 'paddle, oar' (Old Kaiwaligaw Ya [Kauraraigau Ya] kœRaba; œRa has regularly given short a in Kalaw Lagaw Ya in kaba, kab). Such length contrasts are more widespread in the other dialects. The exceptions are (1) the small class or words that include ber 'rib' and kab 'oar, paddle', and