Editing Marathi language (section)

== Phonology ==
{{Main|Marathi phonology}}

=== Vowels ===
Vowels in native words are:
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Vowels
! || [[Front vowel|Front]]|| [[Central vowel|Central]]|| [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[High vowel|High]]
| {{IPA link|i}} || || {{IPA link|u}}
|-
! [[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| {{IPA link|e}} || {{IPA link|ə}} || {{IPA link|o}}
|-
! [[Low vowel|Low]]
| || {{IPA link|a}} ||
|}
There is almost no phonemic length distinction, even though it is indicated in the script. Some educated speakers try to maintain a length distinction in learned borrowings (''[[tatsama]]s'') from Sanskrit.{{sfn|Dhongde|Wali|2009}}{{page needed|date=September 2024}}

There are no nasal vowels, although some speakers of Puneri and Kokni dialects maintain nasalisation of vowels that was present in old Marathi and continues to be orthographically present in modern Marathi.<ref>Sardesai, p. 547.</ref>

Marathi furthermore contrasts {{ipa|/əi, əu/}} with {{ipa|/ai, au/}}.

There are two more vowels in Marathi to denote the pronunciations of English words such as of {{IPA|/æ/}} in ''act'' and {{IPA|/ɔ/}} in ''all''. These are written as {{angbr|अ‍ॅ}} and {{angbr|ऑ}}.{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}

The default vowel has two allophones apart from {{IPA link|ə}}. The most prevalent allophone is {{IPA link|ɤ}}, which results in {{lang|mr|कळ}} (''{{IAST|kaḷa}}'') being more commonly pronounced as {{IPA|[kɤːɺ̢ ]}} rather than {{IPA|[kəɺ̢ ]}}. Another rare allophone is {{IPA link|ʌ}}, which occurs in words such as {{lang|mr|महाराज}} (''{{IAST|mahārāja}}''): {{IPA|[mʌɦaˈrad͡ʒ]}}.<ref>Ghatage, p. 111.</ref>

Marathi retains several features of Sanskrit that have been lost in other Indo-Aryan languages such as Hindi and Bengali, especially in terms of pronunciation of vowels and consonants. For instance, Marathi retains the original diphthong qualities of {{angbr|ऐ}} {{IPA|[əi]}}, and {{angbr|औ}} {{IPA|[əu]}} which became monophthongs in Hindi. However, similar to speakers of Western Indo-Aryan languages and Dravidian languages, Marathi speakers tend to pronounce syllabic consonant ऋ {{IAST|ṛ}} as {{IPA|[ru]}}, unlike Northern Indo-Aryan languages which changed it to {{IPA|[ri]}} (e.g. the original Sanskrit pronunciation of the language's name was ''{{IAST|saṃskṛtam}}'', while in day-to-day Marathi it is ''{{IAST|saṃskrut}}''. In other Indic languages, it is closer to ''{{IAST|sanskrit}}''). Spoken Marathi allows for conservative stress patterns in words like शब्द (''{{IAST|śabda}}'') with an emphasis on the ending vowel sound, a feature that has been lost in Hindi due to [[Schwa deletion]].

=== Consonants ===
{|class="wikitable"
|+'''Consonants'''<ref name="masica">{{Citation
 | last= Masica
 | first= Colin
 | author-link= Colin Masica
 | year= 1991
 | title= The Indo-Aryan Languages
 | place= Cambridge
 | publisher= Cambridge University Press
 | isbn= 978-0-521-29944-2
 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=J3RSHWePhXwC&q=indo-aryan+languages
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Pandharipande|first=Rajeshwari V.|title=Marathi|publisher=London & New York: Routledge|year=2003|location=George Cardona and Dhanesh Jain (eds.), The Indo-Aryan Languages|pages=789–790}}</ref>
!colspan=2|
![[Labial consonant|Labial]]
![[Dental consonant|Dental]]
![[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
![[Retroflex]]
![[Alveopalatal consonant|(Alveolo-)<br />palatal]]
![[Velar consonant|Velar]]
![[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|- style="text-align:center"
!rowspan=2|[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
!<small>plain</small>
|{{IPA link|m}}
|{{IPA link|n̪}}
|
|{{IPA link|ɳ}}
|({{IPA link|ɲ}})
|({{IPA link|ŋ}})
| 
|- style="text-align:center"
!<small>murmured</small>
|{{IPA link|mʱ}}
|{{IPA link|nʱ}}
|
|{{IPA link|ɳʱ}}
| 
| 
| 
|- style="text-align:center"
!rowspan=4|[[Plosive]]/<br/>[[Affricate]]
!<small>voiceless</small>
|{{IPA link|p}}
|{{IPA link|t̪}}
|{{IPA link|t͡s}}
|{{IPA link|ʈ}}
|{{IPA link|t͡ɕ}}~{{IPA link|t͡ʃ}}
|{{IPA link|k}}
| 
|- style="text-align:center"
!<small>[[aspiration (phonetics)|aspirated]]</small>
|{{IPA link|pʰ}}~{{IPA link|f}}
|{{IPA link|tʰ}}
|
|{{IPA link|ʈʰ}}
|{{IPA link|t͡ɕʰ}}~{{IPA link|t͡ʃʰ}}
|{{IPA link|kʰ}}
| 
|- style="text-align:center"
!<small>voiced</small>
|{{IPA link|b}}
|{{IPA link|d̪}}
|{{IPA link|d͡z}}~{{IPA link|z}}
|{{IPA link|ɖ}}
|{{IPA link|d͡ʑ}}~{{IPA link|d͡ʒ}}
|{{IPA link|ɡ}}
| 
|- style="text-align:center"
!<small>murmured</small>
|{{IPA link|bʱ}}
|{{IPA link|dʱ}}
|{{IPA link|d͡zʱ}}~{{IPA link|zʱ}}
|{{IPA link|ɖʱ}}
|{{IPA link|d͡ʑʱ}}~{{IPA link|d͡ʒʱ}}
|{{IPA link|ɡʱ}}
| 
|- style="text-align:center"
!colspan=2|[[Fricative]]
|  
|{{IPA link|s̪}}
|
|{{IPA link|ʂ}}
|{{IPA link|ɕ}}~{{IPA link|ʃ}}
|
|{{IPA link|h}}~{{IPA link|ɦ}}
|- style="text-align:center"
!rowspan=2|[[Approximant]]
!<small>plain</small>
|{{IPA link|ʋ}}
|
|{{IPA link|l}}
|{{IPA link|ɭ}}
|{{IPA link|j}}
|
|
|- style="text-align:center"
!<small>murmured</small>
|{{IPA link|ʋʱ}}
|
|{{IPA link|lʱ}}
|
|({{IPA link|jʱ}})<ref>In Kudali dialect</ref>
|
| 
|- style="text-align:center"
!rowspan=2|[[Flap consonant|Flap]]/[[Trill consonant|Trill]]
!<small>plain</small>
|
|
|{{IPA link|ɾ}}~{{IPA link|r}}
|({{IPA link|𝼈}})<ref>Masica (1991:97)</ref>
|
|
| 
|- style="text-align:center"
!<small>murmured</small>
|
|
|{{IPA link|ɾʱ}}~{{IPA link|rʱ}}
|
|
|
| 
|}

* Marathi used to have a {{IPA|/t͡sʰ/}} but it merged with {{IPA|/s/}}.<ref name="masica"/>
* Some speakers pronounce {{IPA|/d͡z, d͡zʱ/}} as fricatives but the aspiration is maintained in {{IPA|/zʱ/}}.<ref name="masica"/>

A defining feature of the Marathi language is the split of Indo-Aryan {{lang|mr|ल}} {{IPA|/la/}} into a [[retroflex lateral flap]] {{lang|mr|ळ}} ({{IAST|ḷa}}) and alveolar {{lang|mr|ल}} ({{IAST|la}}). It shares this feature with [[Punjabi Language|Punjabi]]. For instance, {{lang|mr|कुळ}} ({{Transliteration|mr|kuḷa}}) for the Sanskrit {{lang|sa|कुलम्}} ({{Transliteration|sa|kulam}}, 'clan') and {{lang|mr|कमळ}} (''{{IAST|kamaḷ}}'') for Sanskrit {{lang|sa|कमलम्}} ({{Transliteration|sa|kamalam}} 'lotus'). Marathi got {{lang|mr|ळ}} possibly due to long contact from Dravidian languages; there are some {{Transliteration|mr|ḷ}} words loaned from Kannada like {{Transliteration|mr|ṭhaḷak}} from {{Transliteration|kn|taḷaku}} but most of the words are native. [[Vedic Sanskrit]] did have {{IPA|/ɭ, ɭʱ/}} as well, but they merged with {{IPA|/ɖ, ɖʱ/}} by the time of classical Sanskrit.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024|reason=Substantial claims have been made in this paragraph without providing any citations.}}