Many of these changes are outlined and exemplified by Hein Steinhauer as follows:[3] Elision of consonants in all historical positions is extensive throughout Southeast Babar.
Examples of consonant deletions include: The loss of *k led to a pull chain shift.
Subsequently, *t shifted to k except if the *t was directly preceded by original *n; unshifted *t before *n is known from *punti > uty "banana".
In turn, k produced from *t lenited to /x/ unless the *k was: Lenited reflexes of *t > k > x include *teliŋa > xlil "ear", *mata > mox "eye", *ma-qitəm > mexm "black", *matay > -moxy "to die", *batu > waxy "stone", and *(h)əpat > wo-ax "4".
Post-merger /l/ subsequently underwent an inverse development to n when adjacent to t either originating from *s or borrowed from another language.
This circular development leads to roots and inflectional affixes to synchronically contain alternations between l and n. A few cases of n failing to merge with l are known, mainly in monosyllabic words where, due to medial consonant deletion and resulting vowel coalescence, there is simultaneously there is one n in the onset and a second n in the coda.
Like with *a, the loss of a following consonant will make the high vowel count as word-final for the purposes of this reduction.
Examples cited by Steinhauer include laŋit > lalk "heavens", *daləm > ralm "inside", *inum > *imun > -iml "to drink", *panas > pant "warm", and *matay > -moxy "to die".
However, this change is blocked in the first-person singular of verbs, where a /j/ is infixed in the verbal root between the nasal and the vowel.
However, if an *ə survives these deletions, it is reflected as e. Some conditioned sound changes have led to phonetic mutations of morphemes when subject to morphological processes, including affixation and reduplication.
Other numerals are only recorded in Taber's wordlist, including metl "1", wo-ka "8", wu-si "9", and wu-ki "10".