Editing Syriac language (section)

=== Vowels ===
As with most Semitic languages, the vowels of Syriac are mostly subordinated to consonants. Especially in the presence of an emphatic consonant, vowels tend to become mid-centralised.

Classical Syriac had the following distinguishable vowels:
{|
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ class="nowrap" | Vowel phonemes in Classical Syriac
|-
! rowspan="2" |
! rowspan="2" | [[Front vowel|Front]]
! colspan="2" | [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! {{small|[[Roundedness|unrounded]]}}
! {{small|[[Roundedness|rounded]]}}
|-
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| {{IPA link|i}}
|
| {{IPA link|u}}
|-
! [[Close-mid vowel|Close-mid]]
| {{IPA link|e}}
|
| {{IPA link|o}}
|-
! [[Open-mid vowel|Open-mid]]
| {{IPA link|ɛ}}
|
|
|-
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
| {{IPA link|a}}
| {{IPA link|ɑ}}
|
|}
|}
In the western dialect, {{IPA|/ɑ/}} has become {{IPA|[ɔ]}}, and the original {{IPA|/o/}} has merged with {{IPA|/u/}}. In eastern dialects, there is more fluidity in the pronunciation of [[front vowel]]s, with some speakers distinguishing five qualities of such vowels, and others only distinguishing three. Vowel length is generally not important: [[close vowel]]s tend to be longer than [[open vowel]]s.

The open vowels form [[diphthong]]s with the [[approximant consonant|approximants]] {{IPA|/j/}} and {{IPA|/w/}}. In almost all dialects, the full sets of possible diphthongs collapses into two or three actual pronunciations:
* {{IPA|/ɑj/}} usually becomes {{IPA|/aj/}}, but the western dialect has {{IPA|/oj/}}
* {{IPA|/aj/}}, further, sometimes [[monophthong]]ized to {{IPA|/e/}}
* {{IPA|/aw/}} usually becomes {{IPA|/ɑw/}}
* {{IPA|/ɑw/}}, further, sometimes monophthongized to {{IPA|/o/}}