Nateni (Natemba) is a language of the Gurma people spoken in Benin. It is named after its principal dialect; the others are Tayari (Tayaba), Kunteni (Kuntemba), Okoni (Okoma).
The low tone is indicated with the grave accent and the high tone with the acute accent on the vowel or the syllabic n .
The nasalization is indicated with the help of the tilde under the vowel which can be combined with the acute or grave accent indicating the tone .
^When preceding nasal vowels, the voiced plosives become nasal consonants:
* /b/ > m
* /d/ > n
* /ɟ/ > ɲ
^According to Nédellec & Bukies (2008), the voiced palatal plosive /ɟ/ is disappearing in Nateni. Before oral vowels, it has completely merged to [j], while the nasal realization [ɲ] before nasal vowels is undergoing a similar process, but has not yet completely merged.
^The voiceless velar plosive /k/ is realized as voiced ɡ between vowels (as well as following the syllabic nasal).
^The syllabic nasal only occurs in medial and final positions. Its place of articulation depends on the sounds that follow it:
* m preceding bilabials
* ɱ preceding labiodentals
* n preceding alveolars
* ɲ preceding palatals
* ŋ preceding velars
It may also be analyzed as a /CV/ cluster with the vowel [ũ], as in [Nũ], where is any realization of the syllabic nasal.