Editing Māori language (section)

== Phonology ==
{{main|Māori phonology}}
Māori has five phonemically distinct vowel articulations, and ten consonant phonemes.

=== Vowels ===

{| class="wikitable"
!
! align="center"|[[Front vowel|Front]]
! align="center"|[[Central vowel|Central]]
! align="center"|[[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! align="left"|[[Close vowel|Close]]
| align="center"|{{IPAlink|i}}, {{IPAlink|iː}}
| align="center" colspan="2" |{{IPAlink|u}}, {{IPAlink|uː}}
|-
! align="left"|[[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| align="center"|{{IPAlink|e}}, {{IPAlink|eː}}
|
| align="center"|{{IPAlink|o}}, {{IPAlink|oː}}
|-
! align="left"|[[Open vowel|Open]]
|
| align="center" colspan="2" |{{IPAlink|a}}, {{IPAlink|aː}}
|}

Although it is commonly claimed that vowel realisations (pronunciations) in Māori show little variation, linguistic research has shown this not to be the case.{{sfn|Bauer|1993|page=537}}{{efn|Bauer mentions that Biggs 1961 announced a similar finding.}}

Vowel length is phonemic, but four of the five long vowels occur in only a handful of word roots, the exception being {{IPA|/aː/}}.{{sfn|Bauer|1997|page=536}}{{efn|Bauer even raised the possibility of analysing Māori as really having six vowel phonemes, ''a, ā, e, i, o, u'' ({{IPA|[a, aː, ɛ, i, ɔ, ʉ]}}).}} As noted above, it has recently become standard in Māori spelling to indicate a long vowel with a macron. For older speakers, long vowels tend to be more peripheral and short vowels more centralised, especially with the low vowel, which is long {{IPA|[aː]}} but short {{IPA|[ɐ]}}. For younger speakers, they are both {{IPA|[a]}}. For older speakers, {{IPA|/u/}} is only fronted after {{IPA|/t/}}; elsewhere it is {{IPA|[u]}}. For younger speakers, it is fronted {{IPA|[ʉ]}} everywhere, as with the corresponding phoneme in [[New Zealand English]]. Due to the influence of New Zealand English, the vowel [e] is raised to be near [i], so that ''pī'' and ''kē'' (or ''piki'' and ''kete'') now largely share the very same vowel space.<ref name=Rev>[[Ghil'ad Zuckermann|Zuckermann, Ghil'ad]] (2020), [[w:en:Revivalistics|''Revivalistics: From the Genesis of Israeli to Language Reclamation in Australia and Beyond'']], [https://global.oup.com/academic/product/revivalistics-9780199812790 Oxford University Press] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201125062747/https://global.oup.com/academic/product/revivalistics-9780199812790?cc=us&lang=en& |date=25 November 2020 }}. {{ISBN|9780199812790}} / {{ISBN|9780199812776}}</ref>{{rp|198–199}}

Beside [[monophthong]]s Māori has many [[diphthong]] vowel phonemes. Although any short vowel combinations are possible, researchers disagree on which combinations constitute diphthongs.{{sfn|Harlow|2007|p=69}} [[Formant]] frequency analysis distinguish {{IPA|/aĭ/, /aĕ/, /aŏ/, /aŭ/, /oŭ/}} as diphthongs.{{sfn|Harlow|2007|p=79}}
As in many other Polynesian languages, diphthongs in Māori vary only slightly from sequences of adjacent vowels, except that they belong to the same syllable, and all or nearly all sequences of nonidentical vowels are possible. All sequences of nonidentical short vowels occur and are phonemically distinct.{{sfn|Harlow|1996|page= 1}}{{sfn|Bauer|1997|page=534}}

=== Consonants ===

The consonant phonemes of Māori are listed in the following table. Seven of the ten Māori [[orthography|consonant letters]] have the same pronunciation as they do in the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] (IPA). For those that do not, the IPA [[phonetic transcription]] is included, enclosed in square brackets per IPA convention.

{| class="wikitable"
!
! align="center"|[[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! align="center"|[[Coronal consonant|Coronal]]
! align="center"|[[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! align="center"|[[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
! align="left"| [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| align="center"|{{IPA link|m}}
| align="center"|{{IPA link|n}}
| align="center"|ng {{IPAblink|ŋ}}
|
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
! align="left"| [[Plosive consonant|Plosive]]
| align="center"|{{IPA link|p}}
| align="center"|{{IPA link|t}}
| align="center"|{{IPA link|k}}
|
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
! align="left"| [[Continuant]]
| align="center"|wh {{IPA|[{{IPA link|f}}, {{IPA link|ɸ}}]}}
| align="center"|r {{IPAblink|ɾ}}
| align="center"|{{IPA link|w}}
| align="center"|{{IPA link|h}}
|}

The pronunciation of {{angbr|wh}} is extremely variable,{{sfn|Bauer|1997|loc=On page 532, Bauer lists seven [[allophone]]s (variant pronunciations)}} but its most common pronunciation (its canonical allophone) is the [[Voiceless labiodental fricative|labiodental fricative]], IPA {{IPA|[f]}} (as in the English word '''''f'''ill''). Another allophone is the [[voiceless bilabial fricative]], IPA {{IPA|[ɸ]}}, which is usually supposed to be the sole pre-European pronunciation, although linguists are not sure of the truth of this supposition.{{fact|date=February 2024}}<!--The citation needed tag applies to the claim that 'linguists are not sure of the truth of this supposition'. It's obvious that it must have been [ɸ], since if it had been /f/, then the letter <f> and not the letter sequence <wh> would have been chosen to express it.--> At least until the 1930s, the bilabial fricative was considered to be the correct pronunciation.<ref>Williams, H. W. and W. L (1930). ''First Lessons in Maori''. Whitcombe and Tombs Limited. p. 6.</ref> The fact that English {{angbr|f}} gets substituted by {{angbr|p}} and not {{angbr|wh}} in borrowings (for example, English ''February'' becomes ''Pēpuere'' instead of {{lang|mi|Whēpuere}}) would strongly hint that the Māori did not perceive English {{IPA|/f/}} to be the same sound as their {{angbr|wh}}.

Because English stops {{IPA|/p, t, k/}} primarily have aspiration, speakers of English often hear the Māori nonaspirated stops as English {{IPA|/b, d, ɡ/}}. However, younger Māori speakers tend to aspirate {{IPA|/p, t, k/}} as in English. English speakers also tend to hear Māori {{IPA|/r/}} as English {{IPA|/l/}} in certain positions (cf. [[Perception of English /r/ and /l/ by Japanese speakers|Japanese]] r).

{{IPA|/ŋ/}} can come at the beginning of a word (like 'sing-along' without the "si"), which may be difficult for English speakers outside of New Zealand to manage.

In some western areas of the North Island, {{angbr|h}} is pronounced as a glottal stop {{IPAblink|ʔ}} instead of {{IPA|[h]}}, and the [[Digraph (orthography)|digraph]] {{angbr|wh}} is pronounced as {{IPA|[ʔw]}} instead of {{IPA|[f]}} or {{IPA|[ɸ]}}.

{{IPA|/ɾ/}} is typically a [[alveolar flap|flap]], especially before {{IPA|/a/}}. However, elsewhere it is sometimes [[alveolar trill|trilled]].

In borrowings from English, many consonants are substituted by the nearest available Māori consonant. For example, the English affricates {{IPA|/tʃ/}} and {{IPA|/dʒ/}}, and the fricative {{IPA|/s/}} are replaced by {{IPA|/h/}}, {{IPA|/f/}} becomes {{IPA|/p}}/, and {{IPA|/l/}} becomes {{IPA|/ɾ/}} (the {{IPA|/l/}} is sometimes retained in the southern dialect, as noted below).

=== Syllables and phonotactics ===
[[Syllable]]s in Māori have one of the following forms: '''V, VV, CV, CVV'''. This set of four can be summarised by the notation, '''{{transliteration|mi|italic=no|(C)V(V)}}''', in which the segments in parentheses may or may not be present. A syllable cannot begin with two consonant sounds (the '''[[Digraph (orthography)|digraphs]]''' ''ng'' and ''wh'' represent single consonant '''sounds'''), and cannot end in a consonant, although some speakers may occasionally devoice a final vowel. All possible '''CV''' combinations are grammatical, though ''wo'', ''who'', ''wu'', and ''whu'' occur only in a few loanwords from English such as {{lang|mi|wuru}}, "wool" and {{lang|mi|whutuporo}}, "football".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/M/MaoriLanguage/Pronunciation/en |title=MAORI LANGUAGE – Pronunciation |year=1966 |editor-last=McLintock |editor-first=A. H. |editor-link=Alexander Hare McLintock |website=[[Encyclopedia of New Zealand (1966)|Encyclopedia of New Zealand]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071024083728/http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/M/MaoriLanguage/Pronunciation/en |archive-date=24 October 2007}}</ref>

As in many other Polynesian languages, e.g., Hawaiian, the rendering of [[loanword]]s from English includes representing every English consonant of the loanword (using the native consonant inventory; English has 24 consonants to 10 for Māori) and breaking up consonant clusters. For example, "Presbyterian" has been borrowed as ''Perehipeteriana''; no consonant position in the loanword has been deleted, but {{IPA|/s/}} and {{IPA|/b/}} have been replaced with {{IPA|/h/}} and {{IPA|/p/}}, respectively.

Stress is typically within the last four vowels of a word, with long vowels and diphthongs counting double. That is, on the last four moras. However, stressed moras are longer than unstressed moras, so the word does not have the precision in Māori that it does in some other languages. It falls preferentially on the first long vowel, on the first diphthong if there is no long vowel (though for some speakers never a final diphthong), and on the first syllable otherwise. Compound words (such as names) may have a stressed syllable in each component word. In long sentences, the final syllable before a pause may have a stress in preference to the normal stressed syllable.