Editing Rotokas language (section)

===Consonants===
Whereas Central Rotokas has only six consonantal phonemes, Aita Rotokas has nine; Aita adds phonemic nasals (e.g. this example of a minimal pair, {{IPA|/buta/}} {{gloss|time}} vs. {{IPA|/muta/}} {{gloss|taste}}<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=The Phoneme Inventory of the Aita Dialect of Rotokas |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236719083_The_Phoneme_Inventory_of_the_Aita_Dialect_of_Rotokas |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20230323125239/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236719083_The_Phoneme_Inventory_of_the_Aita_Dialect_of_Rotokas |archive-date=2023-03-23 |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=ResearchGate |language=en}}</ref>{{rp||page=208}}). The Central dialect's limited inventory likely arose by collapsing the phonemic distinction between nasals and non-nasals.<ref name=":0" />{{rp||page=206}}

Nasals in Aita always correspond to voiced plosives in Central (e.g. "tree" is {{lang|roo|emaoto}} in Aita and {{lang|roo|ebaoto}} in Central<ref name=":0" />{{rp||page=208}}), but voiced plosives in Central can correspond to either nasals or voiced plosives in Aita.<ref name=":0" />{{rp||page=207}}

==== Central Rotokas ====
Consonants occur in three [[Place of articulation|places of articulation]]: [[Bilabial consonant|bilabial]], [[Alveolar consonant|alveolar]], and [[Velar consonant|velar]], each with a voiced and an unvoiced variant.<ref name=":0" />{{rp||page=207}} The three voiced phonemes each have wide allophonic variation, with the allophonic sets {{IPA|[β, b, m]}}, {{IPA|[ɾ, n, l, d]}}, and {{IPA|[ɡ, ɣ, ŋ]}}.<ref name=":1" />{{rp||page=274}} This makes the choice of symbols for phonemes somewhat arbitrary.<ref name=":0" />{{rp||page=207}} 

Nasals are rarely heard. They will sometimes be misused when speakers try to pronounce English words (e.g. "bye-bye" being pronounced {{IPA|[maemae]}}), or when trying to imitate a foreigner speaking Rotokas (even if they were not used by the foreigner).<ref name=":1" />{{rp||page=274}}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ Central Rotokas
!
![[Bilabial consonant|Bilabial]]
![[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
![[Velar consonant|Velar]]
|-
![[Voicelessness|Voiceless]]
|{{IPA link|p}}
|{{IPA link|t}}
|{{IPA link|k}}
|-
![[Voice (phonetics)|Voiced]]
|{{IPA link|b}}
|{{IPA link|d}}
|{{IPA link|ɡ}}
|}

* In the 1960s, {{IPA|/t/}} was described as being {{IPA|[ts]~[s]}} before {{IPA|/i/}}.<ref name=":1" />{{rp||page=274}} Later research in the 2000s found this to no longer be true, possibly due to widespread bilingualism with [[Tok Pisin]].<ref name=":0" />{{rp||page=207}}

==== Aita Rotokas ====
The Aita dialect has nine consonant phonemes, with a three-way distinction required between voiced, voiceless, and nasal consonants.<ref name=":0" />{{rp||page=207}}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ Aita Rotokas
!
![[Bilabial consonant|Bilabial]]
![[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
![[Velar consonant|Velar]]
|-
!Voiceless
|{{IPA link|p}}
|{{IPA link|t}}
|{{IPA link|k}}
|-
!Voiced
|{{IPA link|b}}
|{{IPA link|d}}
|{{IPA link|ɡ}}
|-
![[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
|{{IPA link|m}}
|{{IPA link|n}}
|{{IPA link|ŋ}}
|}

* {{IPA|/b/}} varies between {{IPA|[b]}} and {{IPA|[β]}}.<ref name=":0" />{{rp||page=207}}
* {{IPA|/d/}} is chiefly realized as {{IPA|[ɾ]}}.<ref name=":0" />{{rp||page=207}}
* {{IPA|/t/}} is {{IPA|[s]}} before {{IPA|/i/}}.<ref name=":0" />{{rp||page=207}}