Editing Zulu language (section)

===Consonants===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+Zulu phonemes
|-
! rowspan="2" colspan="2" |
! rowspan="2" | [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! colspan="2" | [[Dental consonant|Dental]]/[[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Postalveolar consonant|Postalveolar]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! {{small|[[Central consonant|central]]}}
! {{small|[[Lateral consonant|lateral]]}}
|-
! rowspan="5" | [[Click consonant|Click]]
! {{small|plain}}
|
| {{IPAlink|ᵏǀʼ}}
| {{IPAlink|ᵏǁʼ}}
| {{IPAlink|ᵏǃʼ}}
|
|
|-
! {{small|aspirated}}
|
| {{IPAlink|ᵏǀʰ}}
| {{IPAlink|ᵏǁʰ}}
| {{IPAlink|ᵏǃʰ}}
|
|
|-
! {{small|nasalised}}
|
| {{IPAlink|ᵑǀ}}
| {{IPAlink|ᵑǁ}}
| {{IPAlink|ᵑǃ}}
|
|
|-
! {{small|slack-voiced oral}}
|
| {{IPAlink|ᶢǀʱ}}
| {{IPAlink|ᶢǁʱ}}
| {{IPAlink|ᶢǃʱ}}
|
|
|-
! {{small|slack-voiced nasal}}
|
| {{IPAlink|ᵑǀʱ}}
| {{IPAlink|ᵑǁʱ}}
| {{IPAlink|ᵑǃʱ}}
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
! {{small|modally voiced}}
| {{IPAlink|m}}
| {{IPAlink|n}}
|
| {{IPAlink|ɲ}}
|
|
|-
! {{small|slack-voiced}}
| {{IPAlink|m̤}}
| {{IPAlink|n̤}}
|
|
| ({{IPAlink|ŋ̈}})
|
|-
! rowspan="4" | [[Plosive]]
! {{small|plain}}
| {{IPAlink|pʼ}}
| {{IPAlink|tʼ}}
|
|
| {{IPAlink|kʼ}}
|
|-
! {{small|aspirated}}
| {{IPAlink|pʰ}}
| {{IPAlink|tʰ}}
|
|
| {{IPAlink|kʰ}}
|
|-
! {{small|slack-voiced}}
| {{IPAlink|b̤}}
| {{IPAlink|d̤}}
|
|
| {{IPAlink|ɡ̈}}
|
|-
! {{small|implosive}}
| {{IPAlink|ɓ}}
|
|
|
| {{IPAlink|ɠ}}
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Affricate]]
! {{small|plain}}
|
| {{IPAlink|tsʼ}}
|
| {{IPAlink|tʃʼ}}
| {{IPAlink|kxʼ}}~{{IPAlink|k𝼄ʼ}}
|
|-
! {{small|slack-voiced}}
|
|
|
| {{IPAlink|dʒ̈}}
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Fricative]]
! {{small|voiceless}}
| {{IPAlink|f}}
| {{IPAlink|s}}
| {{IPAlink|ɬ}}
| {{IPAlink|ʃ}}
|
| {{IPAlink|h}}
|-
! {{small|slack-voiced}}
| {{IPAlink|v̤}}
| {{IPAlink|z̤}}
| {{IPAlink|ɮ̈}}
|
|
| {{IPAlink|ɦ̥}}
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Liquid consonant|Liquid]]
|
| {{IPAlink|r}}
| {{IPAlink|l}}
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Semivowel]]
! {{small|modally voiced}}
|
|
|
| {{IPAlink|j}}
| {{IPAlink|w}}
|
|-
! {{small|slack-voiced}}
|
|
|
| {{IPAlink|j̈}}
| {{IPAlink|w̤}}
|
|}

# The plain voiceless plosives, affricates and clicks are realised phonetically as ejectives {{IPAblink|pʼ}}, {{IPAblink|tʼ}}, {{IPAblink|kʼ}}, {{IPAblink|tsʼ}}, {{IPAblink|tʃʼ}} {{IPAblink|kxʼ}}.
# When not preceded by a nasal, {{IPA|/ɠ/}} is almost in complementary distribution with {{IPA|/k/}} and {{IPA|/kʰ/}}. The latter two phonemes occur almost exclusively root-initially, while {{IPA|/ɠ/}} appears exclusively medially. Recent loanwords contain {{IPA|/k/}} and {{IPA|/kʰ/}} in other positions, e.g. ''isekhondi'' {{IPA|/iːsekʰoːndi/}} "second", ''ibhayisikili'' {{IPA|/iːbajisikiːli/}} "bicycle".
# The [[slack voice|slack-voiced]] consonants are [[depressor consonant]]s. These have a lowering effect on the tone of their syllable. 
# The consonant {{IPA|/ŋ/}} occurs in some dialects as a reduction of the cluster {{IPA|/nɡ/}} when it is not in stem-initial position, and is therefore always slack-voiced.
# The trill {{IPA|/r/}} is not native to Zulu and occurs only in expressive words and in recent borrowings from European languages.

The use of [[click consonant]]s is one of the most distinctive features of Zulu. This feature is shared with several other languages of Southern Africa, but it is very rare in other regions. There are three basic articulations of clicks in Zulu:
* [[Dental click|Denti-alveolar]] {{IPA|/ǀ/}}, comparable to a sucking of teeth, as the sound one makes for 'tsk tsk'.
* [[Postalveolar click|Postalveolar]] {{IPA|/!/}}, comparable to a bottle top 'pop'.
* [[Alveolar lateral click|Lateral]] {{IPA|/ǁ/}}, comparable to a click that one may do for a walking horse.

Each articulation covers five click consonants, with differences such as being slack-voiced, [[aspiration (phonetics)|aspirated]] or [[nasalisation|nasalised]], for a total of 15.