Editing Tagalog language (section)

===Vowels===
Tagalog has five vowels and four diphthongs.<ref name="Himmelmann 2011 351–352"/><ref name="Rubino 2002 351–352"/><ref name="Guzman 2001 704"/><ref name="Quilis 1985 241–243"/><ref name="Tagalog Reference Grammar"/> Tagalog originally had three vowel phonemes, {{IPA|/a/}}, {{IPA|/i/}}, and {{IPA|/u/}}. Tagalog is now considered to have five vowel phonemes following the introduction of two marginal phonemes from Spanish, /o/ and /e/.

{| class="wikitable"
|+caption | '''Table of the five general Tagalog vowel phonemes'''
|- style="text-align:center;"
!
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Central vowel|Central]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|- style="text-align:center;"
![[Close vowel|Close]]
| {{IPA link|i}}&nbsp;{{angbr|i}}
|
| {{IPA link|u}}&nbsp;{{angbr|u}}
|- style="text-align:center;"
! [[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| {{IPA link|ɛ}}&nbsp;{{angbr|e}}
|
| {{IPA link|o̞}}&nbsp;{{angbr|o}}
|- style="text-align:center;"
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
|
| {{IPA link|a}}&nbsp;{{angbr|a}}
|
|}
* {{IPA|/a/}} an [[open central unrounded vowel]] roughly similar to English "f'''a'''ther"; in the middle of a word, a [[near-open central vowel]] similar to Received Pronunciation "c'''u'''p"; or an [[open front unrounded vowel]] similar to Received Pronunciation or California English "h'''a'''t"
* {{IPA|/ɛ/}} an [[open-mid front unrounded vowel]] similar to General American English "b'''e'''d"
* {{IPA|/i/}} a [[close front unrounded vowel]] similar to English "mach'''i'''ne"
* {{IPA|/o̞/}} a [[mid back rounded vowel]] similar to General American English "s'''o'''ul" or Philippine English "f'''o'''rty"
* {{IPA|/u/}} a [[close back rounded vowel]] similar to English "fl'''u'''te"

Nevertheless, simplification of pairs {{IPA|[o ~ u]}} and {{IPA|[ɛ ~ i]}} is likely to take place, especially in some Tagalog as second language, remote location and working class registers.

The four [[diphthong]]s are {{IPA|/aj/}}, {{IPA|/uj/}}, {{IPA|/aw/}}, and {{IPA|/iw/}}. Long vowels are not written apart from pedagogical texts, where an acute accent is used: ''á é í ó ú.''<ref name="ELL">{{ELL2|Tagalog}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|+caption | '''Table of all possible realizations of Tagalog vowels'''
|- style="text-align:center;"
!
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Central vowel|Central]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|- style="text-align:center;"
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| '''{{IPA link|i}}'''&nbsp;{{angbr|i}}
|
| '''{{IPA link|u}}'''&nbsp;{{angbr|u}}
|- style="text-align:center;"
! [[Near-close vowel|Near-close]]
| {{IPA link|ɪ}}&nbsp;{{angbr|i}}
|
| {{IPA link|ʊ}}&nbsp;{{angbr|u}}
|- style="text-align:center;"
! [[Close-mid vowel|Close-mid]]
| {{IPA link|e}}&nbsp;{{angbr|e/i}}
|
| {{IPA link|o}}&nbsp;{{angbr|o/u}}
|- style="text-align:center;"
! [[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| {{IPA link|ɛ̝}}&nbsp;{{angbr|e}}
|
| '''{{IPA link|o̞}}'''&nbsp;{{angbr|o}}
|- style="text-align:center;"
! [[Open-mid vowel|Open-mid]]
| '''{{IPA link|ɛ}}'''&nbsp;{{angbr|e}}
|
| {{IPA link|ɔ}}&nbsp;{{angbr|o}}
|- style="text-align:center;"
! [[Near-open vowel|Near-open]]
|
| {{IPA link|ɐ}}&nbsp;{{angbr|a}}
|
|- style="text-align:center;"
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
| {{IPA link|a}}&nbsp;{{angbr|a}}
| '''{{IPA link|ä}}'''&nbsp;{{angbr|a}}
|
|}

The table above shows all the possible realizations for each of the five vowel sounds depending on the speaker's origin or proficiency. The five general vowels are in '''bold'''.