Editing Okinawan language (section)

====Moraic nasal{{anchor|Moraic nasal}}====
The [[Japanese phonology#Moraic nasal|moraic nasal]] {{IPA|/N/}} has been posited in most descriptions of Okinawan phonology. Like Japanese, {{IPA|/N/}} (transcribed using the small capital {{IPA|/ɴ/}}) occupies a full [[Mora (linguistics)|mora]] and its precise place of articulation will vary depending on the following consonant. Before other labial consonants, it will be pronounced closer to a [[syllabic consonant|syllabic]] [[bilabial nasal]] {{IPA|[m̩]}}, as in {{IPA|/ʔɴma/}} {{IPA|[ʔm̩ma]}} ''{{sc|q}}nma'' "horse".  Before velar and labiovelar consonants, it will be pronounced as a syllabic [[velar nasal]] {{IPA|[ŋ̍]}}, as in {{IPA|/biɴɡata/}} {{IPA|[biŋ̍ɡata]}} ''[[bingata]]'', a method of dying clothes.  And before alveolar and alveolo-palatal consonants, it becomes a syllabic [[alveolar nasal]] {{IPA|/n̩/}}, as in {{IPA|/kaɴda/}} {{IPA|[kan̩da]}} ''kanda'' "vine". In some varieties, it instead becomes a syllabic [[uvular nasal]] {{IPA|[ɴ̩]}}. Elsewhere, its exact realization remains unspecified, and it may vary depending on the first sound of the next word or morpheme. In isolation and at the end of utterances, it is realized as a velar nasal {{IPA|[ŋ̍]}}.