The nasal element of the prenasalized consonants is syllabic when not preceded by a vowel, but takes a noncontrastive low tone and is never stressed: /ˈmbà/ [m̩̀ˈba] 'but', /ˈpɪ̀ɬ̪mbé/ [ˈpɪ̀ɬ̪m̩̄bé] 'we know'.
Prenasalized consonants are perceived as single segments word-initially, but as nasal + stop word-medially.
The other consonants vary markedly, with most variants being positional: The southern Kuma dialect has these three laterals, though the alveolar is rather uncommon.
All vowels neutralize to [ɪ̈] in final unstressed closed syllables (disregarding subsequent "clitics").
On both monosyllabic and disyllabic words, the three tones are realized as high, rising and falling: [HH], [LH] and [HL].
(Phonetic length and perhaps tone distribution suggests that words transcribed as CV monosyllables may actually be CVV with identical vowels.)
In some cases (such as /ɪ.i/) these sequences reduce across morpheme boundaries, and stress seems to play a role in vowel reduction.
Observed consonant clusters within words are those allowed as syllable codas, /ps, pm, tm, ks, km, l̪s, l̪m, ʟm/, plus /p.p, p.t, p.nz; mb.p, mb.t, mb.m; t.p, t.mb, t.nd, t.n̪, t.n, t.ŋ; nd.p, nd.m; k.p; s.p, s.mb, s.nd, s.k, s.nz, s.m, s.n; nz.p, nz.m; m.p, m.nz, m.m, m.ŋ; n̪.p, n̪.m; n.p, n.m, n.ŋ; ŋ.p, ŋ.mb, ŋ.s, ŋ.nz, ŋ.m, ŋ.n; l̪.p, l̪.mb, l̪.t, l̪.k, l̪ [sic], l̪.w; l.mb, l.nd; ʟ.p, ʟ.mb, ʟ.t, ʟ.nz, ʟ.n, ʟ.ŋ, ʟ.w/.
Below are some reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea proposed by Pawley (2012), drawn from Ramsey (1975):[17][18] To support his proto-Trans-New Guinea reconstructions, Pawley (2012) also cites probable reflexes in the Apali, Kalam, Kâte, Selepet, Binandere, Katei, Kiwai, Telefol, and Asmat languages.