Initial consonant mutation and information flow in Mende

The consonant mutation system of Mende is simialar to that found in the other languages of the South-Western Mande group, in particular Loma, Loko and Bandi, and bears some resemblances to that of Kpelle (on the historical phonology of Mande, see Kastenholz, 1996; Vydrine, forthcoming). It is historically (and in some languages synchronically) related to the presence or absence of a velar nasal before the word. The consonant inventory of Mende is presented in table 1 (Aginsky, 1935; Crosby, 1944; Innes, 1962; Tateishi, 1990; Kastenholz, 1996; Vydrine, forthcoming). Some dialects