Naba language

Naba is a Nilo-Saharan language spoken by approximately 500,000 people in Chad. Those who speak this language are called Lisi, a collective name for three closely associated ethnic groups, the Bilala, the Kuka and the Medogo, that represent the three dialects in which Naba is subdivided. They live mainly in the Batha Prefecture, but the Kuka are also in Chari-Baguirmi. Ethnologue estimates the lexical similarity among the three dialects to be no less than 99%. Arabic is often spoken as a second language.

Consonants

 * can also be heard as in initial position, in free variation.
 * can also be heard as when in intervocalic positions.
 * Affricate sounds are heard as palatal stop sounds  when affected by fortition in pre-consonantal positions.
 * may be heard as approximants in intervocalic positions. It may also be pronounced as a uvular trill  when before back vowels in intervocalic positions.

Vowels

 * Vowels have allophones  when in closed syllables.
 * A central may be heard in fast speech and in vowel epenthesis.