Mapos Buang has a larger sound inventory than is typical of most Austronesian languages. Notable is the existence of a phonemic uvular nasal, and a distinction between a voiced bilabial fricative and a bilabial approximant (although the approximant can be analyzed phonologically as labio-velar).
Vowels[]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i(ː) | u(ː) | |
| Mid | e(ː) | (ə)* | o(ː) |
| Low | ɛ(ː) | a(ː) | ɔ(ː) |
* [ə] is a prominent feature of Buang phonology, but is not contrastive.
Consonants[]
| Bilabial | Coronal | Palatal | Velar | Labio -velar |
Uvular | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ŋʷ | ɴ |
| (prenasalized) Occlusive |
ᵐb | ⁿd | ⁿdʒ | ᵑɡ | ᵑɡʷ | ᶰɢ |
| p | t | tʃ | k | kʷ | q | |
| Continuant | β | l̪ | j | ɣ | w* | ʁ |
| Liquid | l~ɽ |
*/w/ is a bilabial approximant or semivowel with no co-articulated velar component. It is placed in the labio-velar series of the chart as it fills a gap in this position. /β/ is a voiced bilabial fricative.