Nambya is a tonal language. It has a simple 20 vowel system and a typical Bantu consonant-vowel (CV) syllable structure. The language has onsetless syllables, but these are restricted to the word-initial position, making Nambya typical of the Southern Bantu languages.
Vowels[]
| Front | Central | Back | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| unrounded | rounded | unrounded | rounded | ||
| Close | i | ɨ | ü /ɯ/ | u | |
| Near-close | ï /ɪ/ | y /ʏ/ | ʊ | ||
| Close-mid | e | ø | ɵ | ö /ɤ/ | o |
| Open-mid | ɛ | œ | ë /ɞ/ | ʌ | ɔ |
| Open | æ | a | ä /ɒ/ | ||