Contiguous Vowels — Contraction, Elision, Dropping

§19–20. CONTRACTION
When two vowels come together at word boundaries (prefix + stem, or two words
in close syntactic relation), they often contract:

Rules of contraction:

a + a = a o + a = ua u + a = wa a + e = e o + e = we u + e = we a + i = e o + i = wi u + i = wi a + o = o o + o = o u + o = wo a + u = o o + u = u u + u = u

Examples:

va + akola → vakola (they are strong) u + aenda → waenda (he went) o + iso → wiso (his eye)

§21. ELISION
The weaker (shorter, less stressed) vowel is dropped when two vowels meet:

ku + ipa → k'ipa (to kill) nd + aenda → ndaenda (I went) v + afeta → vafeta (they pay)

§22. DROPPING
In rapid speech, unstressed vowels — especially i and u — may be dropped
entirely, especially in frequently used forms:

u + alinga → walinga or 'alinga nd + asola → ndasola or 'asola