Editing Mongolian language (section)

=== Vowels ===
The standard language has seven [[monophthong]] vowel phonemes. They are aligned into three [[vowel harmony]] groups by a parameter called ATR ([[Advanced and retracted tongue root|advanced tongue root]]); the groups are −ATR, +ATR, and neutral. This alignment seems to have superseded an alignment according to oral backness. However, some scholars still describe Mongolian as being characterized by a distinction between front vowels and back vowels, and the front vowel spellings 'ö' and 'ü' are still often used in the West to indicate two vowels which were historically front. The Mongolian vowel system also has rounding harmony.

Length is phonemic for vowels, and except short [e], which has merged into short [i],<ref>{{Cite book |title=The phonology of Mongolian |date=2005 |publisher=Oxford University press |isbn=978-0-19-926017-1 |series=The phonology of the world's languages |location=Oxford (GB)}}</ref> at least in [[Ulaanbaatar]] dialect,{{sfn|Janhunen|2012|pp=33–34}} each of the other six phonemes occurs both short and long. Phonetically, short {{IPA|/o/}} has become centralised to the [[Close-mid central rounded vowel|central vowel]] {{IPA|[ɵ]}}.

In the following table, the seven vowel phonemes, with their length variants, are arranged and described phonetically. The vowels in the Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet are: 
:{| class="wikitable"
|+
![[Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet|Mongolian Cyrillic]]
![[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]]
!Romanization
|-
|а, аа
|[{{IPA link|a}}, {{IPA link|aː}}]
|a, aa
|-
|и, ий/ы
|[{{IPA link|i}}, {{IPA link|iː}}]
|i, ii
|-
|о, оо
|[{{IPA link|ɔ}}, {{IPA link|ɔː}}]
|o, oo
|-
|ө, өө
|[{{IPA link|ɵ}}, {{IPA link|oː}}] /{{IPA link|o}}, {{IPA link|oː}}/
|ö, öö
|-
|у, уу
|[{{IPA link|ʊ}}, {{IPA link| ʊː}}]
|u, uu
|-
|ү, үү
|[{{IPA link|u}}, {{IPA link|uː}}]
|ü, üü
|-
|э, ээ
|[{{IPA link|i}}, {{IPA link|eː}}]
|e, ee
|}
:{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
!
! colspan="2" |[[Front vowel|Front]]
! colspan="2" |[[Central vowel|Central]]
! colspan="2" |[[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
!
! Short
! Long
! Short
! Long
! Short
! Long
|-
! style="text-align: left;" |[[Close vowel|Close]]
|{{IPA link|i}}
|{{IPA link|iː}}
|
|
|{{IPA link|u}}
|{{IPA link|uː}}
|-
! style="text-align: left;" |[[Near-close vowel|Near-Close]]
|
|
|
|
|{{IPA link|ʊ}}
|{{IPA link|ʊː}}
|-
! style="text-align: left;" |[[Close-mid vowel|Close-Mid]]
|
|{{IPA link|eː}}
|{{IPA link|ɵ}}
|
|
|{{IPA link|oː}}
|-
! style="text-align: left;" |[[Open-mid vowel|Open-mid]]
|
|
|
|
|{{IPA link|ɔ}}
|{{IPA link|ɔː}}
|-
! style="text-align: left;" |[[Open vowel|Open]]
|
|
|{{IPA link|a}}
|{{IPA link|aː}}
|
|
|}

Khalkha also has four [[diphthong]]s: historically {{IPA|/ui, ʊi, ɔi, ai/}} but are pronounced more like {{IPA|[ʉe̯, ʊe̯, ɞe̯, æe̯]}};<ref>Svantesson ''et al.'' (2005): 22</ref> e.g. {{lang|mn|ой}} in {{lang|mn|нохой}} ({{lang|mn-latn|nokhoi}}) {{IPA|[nɜˈχɞe̯]}} 'dog', {{lang|mn|ай}} in {{lang|mn|далай}} ({{lang|mn-latn|dalai}}) {{IPA|[tɐˈɮæe̯]}} 'sea', {{lang|mn|уй}} in {{lang|mn|уйлах}} ({{lang|mn-latn|uilakh}}) {{IPA|[ˈʊe̯ɮɐχ]}} 'to cry', and {{lang|mn|үй}} in {{lang|mn|үйлдвэр}} ({{lang|mn-latn|üildver}}) {{IPA|[ˈʉe̯ɬtw̜ɘr]}} 'factory'. There are three additional rising diphthongs {{IPA|/ia/}} ({{lang|mn|иа}}), {{IPA|/ʊa/}} ({{lang|mn|уа}}) {{IPA|/ei/}} ({{lang|mn|эй}}); e.g., {{lang|mn|иа}} in {{lang|mn|амиараа}} ({{lang|mn-latn|amiaraa}}) {{IPA|[æmʲæˈra]}} 'individually', {{lang|mn|уа}} in {{lang|mn|хуаран}} ({{lang|mn-latn|khuaran}}) {{IPA|[ˈχʷarɐɴ]}} 'barracks', and {{lang|mn|эй}} in {{lang|mn|хэрэгтэй}} ({{lang|mn-latn|kheregtei}}) {{IPA|[xirɪxˈtʰe]}} 'necessary'.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sanders|first=Alan J. K.|title=Colloquial Mongolian : the complete course for beginners|isbn=978-1-317-30598-9|pages=13|oclc=919495714|date=2015-08-14|publisher=Routledge }}</ref>

==== Allophones ====
This table below lists vowel allophones (short vowels allophones in non-initial positions are used interchangeably with schwa):<ref>Svantesson ''et al.'' (2005): 1</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
! rowspan="3" | Short
! Initial positions
| {{IPA|[a]}}
| {{IPA|[e]}}
| {{IPA|[i]}}
| {{IPA|[ɔ]}}
| {{IPA|[o]}}
| {{IPA|[ʊ]}}
| {{IPA|[u]}}
|-
! rowspan="2" | Non-initial positions
| {{IPA|[ă]}}
| {{IPA|[ĕ]}}
| {{IPA|[ĭ]}}
| {{IPA|[ɔ̆]}}
| {{IPA|[ŏ]}}
| {{IPA|[ʊ̆]}}
| {{IPA|[ŭ]}}
|-
| colspan="7" | {{IPA|[ə]}}
|-
! rowspan="2" | Long
! Initial positions
| {{IPA|[aː]}}
| {{IPA|[eː]}}
| {{IPA|[iː]}}
| {{IPA|[ɔː]}}
| {{IPA|[oː]}}
| {{IPA|[ʊː]}}
| {{IPA|[uː]}}
|-
! Non-initial positions
| {{IPA|[a]}}
| {{IPA|[e]}}
| {{IPA|[i]}}
| {{IPA|[ɔ]}}
| {{IPA|[o]}}
| {{IPA|[ʊ]}}
| {{IPA|[u]}}
|}

==== ATR harmony ====
[[File:Mongolian vowel harmony Venn diagram.svg|thumb|Vowel harmony in Mongolian]]
Mongolian divides vowels into three groups in a system of [[vowel harmony]]:

:{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
!
! +ATR ("front")
! −ATR ("back")
! Neutral
|-
|IPA
| {{IPA|/e, u, o/}}
| {{IPA|/a, ʊ, ɔ/}}
|{{IPA|/i/}}
|-
|Cyrillic
|э, ү, ө
|а, у, о
|и, ы and й
|-
|Romanization
|e, ü, ö
|a, u, o
|i
|}

For historical reasons, these have been traditionally labeled as "front" vowels and "back" vowels, as /o/ and /u/ developed from /ø/ and /y/, while /ɔ/ and /ʊ/ developed from /o/ and /u/ in Middle Mongolian. Indeed, in Mongolian [[romanization]]s, the vowels {{IPA|/o/}} and {{IPA|/u/}} are often conventionally rendered as {{angle bracket|ö}} and {{angle bracket|ü}}, while the vowels {{IPA|/ɔ/}} and {{IPA|/ʊ/}} are expressed as {{angle bracket|o}} and {{angle bracket|u}}. However, for modern Mongolian phonology, it is more appropriate to instead characterize the two vowel-harmony groups by the dimension of tongue root position. There is also one neutral vowel, {{IPA|/i/}}, not belonging to either group.

All the vowels in a non[[Compound (linguistics)|compound]] word, including all its suffixes, must belong to the same group. If the first vowel is −ATR, then every vowel of the word must be either {{IPA|/i/}} or a −ATR vowel. Likewise, if the first vowel is a +ATR vowel, then every vowel of the word must be either {{IPA|/i/}} or a +ATR vowel. In the case of suffixes, which must change their vowels to conform to different words, two patterns predominate. Some suffixes contain an archiphoneme {{IPA|/A/}} that can be realized as {{IPA|/a, ɔ, e, o/}}; e.g.
*{{IPA|/orx/}} 'household' + {{IPA|-Ar}} (instrumental) → {{IPA|/orxor/}} 'by a household'
*{{IPA|/xarʊɮ/}} 'sentry' + {{IPA|-Ar}} (instrumental) → {{IPA|/xarʊɮar/}} 'by a sentry'

Other suffixes can occur in {{IPA|/U/}} being realized as {{IPA|/ʊ, u/}}, in which case all −ATR vowels lead to {{IPA|/ʊ/}} and all +ATR vowels lead to {{IPA|/u/}}; e.g.
*{{IPA|/aw/}} 'to take' + {{IPA|-Uɮ}} (causative) → {{IPA|/awʊɮ/}}

If the only vowel in the word stem is {{IPA|/i/}}, the suffixes will use the +ATR suffix forms.<ref>Svantesson ''et al.'' (2005): 43–50.</ref>

==== Rounding harmony ====
Mongolian also has rounding harmony, which does not apply to close vowels. If a stem contains {{IPA|/o/}} (or {{IPA|/ɔ/}}), a suffix that is specified for an open vowel will have {{IPA|[o]}} (or {{IPA|[ɔ]}}, respectively) as well. However, this process is blocked by the presence of {{IPA|/u/}} (or {{IPA|/ʊ/}}) and {{IPA|/ei/}}; e.g. {{IPA|/ɔr-ɮɔ/}} 'came in', but {{IPA|/ɔr-ʊɮ-ɮa/}} 'inserted'.<ref>Svantesson ''et al.'' (2005): 46–47, 50–51.</ref>

==== Vowel length ====
The pronunciation of long and short [[vowel]]s depends on the [[syllable]]'s position in the word. In word-initial syllables, there is a [[Phoneme|phonemic]] contrast in [[vowel length]]. A long vowel has about 208% the length of a short vowel. In word-medial and word-final syllables, formerly long vowels are now only 127% as long as short vowels in initial syllables, but they are still distinct from initial-syllable short vowels. Short vowels in noninitial syllables differ from short vowels in initial syllables by being only 71% as long and by being centralized in articulation. As they are nonphonemic, their position is [[Syllabification|determined]] according to [[Phonotactics|phonotactic]] requirements.<ref>Svantesson ''et al.'' (2005): 1–7, 22–24, 73–75.</ref>