ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the consonant systems of Pulaar, i.e. the phonetic system, and the phonological system. The analysis of the consonant system, by contrast with that of the vowel system, is not cast within charm and government theory (CGT), due to the lack of research advances in this domain. Thus phonological features, rather than elements, constitute the building blocks of one analysis of consonants. The prenasalized consonants appear at the beginning and end of words, as well as internally. Typically, word-internal prenasalized consonants at the surface are always preceded by a nasal consonant, except if the vowel of the preceding syllable is long. An analysis of prenasalized consonants in Pulaar must take into account both their distributional gaps and their phonological and morphological conditioning observed elsewhere in the language. In Pulaar there are no arguments favoring an analysis of implosives as sonorants.
