5.12 Dropping of vowels
When a suffix is added to a root with a stressed final syllable, the tendency is to drop the vowel of the final syllable of the root:
| dakup | /dakúp/ | arrest | + | -an | = | dakpan | /dákpan/ | be arrested |
| pisik | /pisík/ | splash | + | -an | = | piskan | /pískan/ | be splashed |
| lakat | /lakát/ | go | + | -unun | = | laktunun | /laktunún/ | errand |
This occasionally also happens to roots with stressed penults:
| kalímut | /kalímut/ | forget | + | -i | = | kalimti | /kalímti/ | forget it |
5.13 Adding of /h/ or /ʔ/ to roots ending in a vowel when a suffix is added
Some roots which end in a vowel add /ʔ/ before a suffix, some roots add /h/, other roots add either /ʔ/ or /h/ (depending on which suffix):
| bása | /bása/ | read | + | -un | = | basáhun | /basáhun/ | be read |
| adtu | /ʔádtu/ | go | + | -un | = | adtúun | /ʔadtū́ʔun/ | gone to get |
| kabaláka | /kabaláka/ | worry | + | -an | = | kabalak-an | /kabalákʔan/ | s.t. to worry about (with the vowel of the final syllable of the root dropped—5.12). |
| sulti | /súlti/ | talk | + | -un | = | sultíhun | /sultī́hun/ | talk it out |
| sulti | /súlti/ | talk | + | -ánay | = | sultiánay | /sultiʔā́nay/ | conversation |
5.14 Metathesis
In affixed forms, the sequences /ʔC/ and /hC/ (where C is any consonant) almost always become /Cʔ/ and /Ch/:[16]