Editing Zulu language (section)

====Tone displacement====

Depressor consonants have an effect called ''tone displacement''. Tone displacement occurs whenever a depressor occurs with a high tone, and causes the tone on the syllable to shift rightward onto the next syllable. If the next syllable is long, it gets a falling tone, otherwise a regular high tone. If the penultimate syllable becomes high (not falling), the final syllable [[dissimilation|dissimilates]] and becomes low if it was not already. Tone displacement is blocked under the following conditions:
* When the syllable has a long vowel.
* When the following syllable also has a depressor consonant.
* When the following syllable is the final syllable and is short.

Whenever tone displacement is blocked, this results in a depressor syllable with a high tone, which will have the low-tone onset as described above. When the following syllable already has a high or falling tone, the tone disappears from the syllable as if it had been shifted away, but the following syllable's tone is not modified.

Some examples:
* {{lang|zu|izipunu}} "spoons", the plural of {{lang|zu|isipunu}} from the previous section, is phonemically {{IPA|/ízipúnu/}}. Because {{IPA|/z/}} is a depressor consonant, tone assimilation is prevented. Consequently, the word is pronounced as {{IPA|[ízìpʼúːnù]}} sentence-finally, with a low tone in the second syllable.
* {{lang|zu|izintombi}} "girls" is phonemically {{IPA|/izíntombí/}}. {{IPA|/z/}} is a depressor, and is not blocked, so the tone shifts to the third syllable. This syllable can be either long or short depending on sentence position. When long, the pronunciation is {{IPA|[ìzìntômbí]}}, with a falling tone. However, when the third syllable is short, the tone is high, and dissimilation of the final syllable occurs, resulting in {{IPA|[ìzìntómbì]}}.
* {{lang|zu|nendoda}} "with a man" is phonemically {{IPA|/nʱéndoda/}}. {{IPA|/nʱ/}} is a depressor, but so is {{IPA|/d/}}, so tone displacement is blocked. Consequently, the pronunciation is {{IPA|[nʱěndɔ̀ːdà]}}, with rising pitch in the first syllable due to the low-onset effect.