Editing Berber languages (section)

=== Vowels ===
The vowel systems of Berber languages also vary widely, with inventories ranging from three phonemic vowels in most [[Northern Berber languages]], to seven in some [[Eastern Berber languages|Eastern Berber]] and [[Tuareg languages|Tuareg]] languages.<ref name="Kossman-2012">{{Cite book |last=Kossman |first=Maarten |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/795895594 |title=The Afroasiatic languages |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |editor-first1=Zygmunt |editor-last1=Frajzyngier |editor-first2=Erin |editor-last2=Shay |isbn=978-1-139-42364-9 |location=Cambridge |pages=28 |chapter=Berber |oclc=795895594 |access-date=16 December 2022 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526084811/https://search.worldcat.org/title/795895594 |url-status=live }}</ref> For example, [[Shilha language|Taselhiyt]] has the vowels /i/, /a/, and /u/, while Ayer Tuareg has the vowels /i/, /[[Mid central vowel|ə]]/, /u/, /e/, /[[Near-open central vowel|ɐ]]/, /o/, and /a/.<ref name="Kossman-2012" /><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/795895594 |title=The Afroasiatic languages |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |editor-first1=Zygmunt |editor-last1=Frajzyngier |editor-first2=Erin |editor-last2=Shay |isbn=978-1-139-42364-9 |location=Cambridge |pages=625 |oclc=795895594}}</ref> Contrastive [[vowel length]] is rare in Berber languages. Tuareg languages had previously been reported to have contrastive vowel length, but this is no longer the leading analysis.<ref name="Kossman-2012" /> A complex feature of Berber vowel systems is the role of [[central vowel]]s, which vary in occurrence and function across languages; there is a debate as to whether [[schwa]] is a proper phoneme of Northern Berber languages.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kossman |first=Maarten |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/795895594 |title=The Afroasiatic languages |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |editor-first1=Zygmunt |editor-last1=Frajzyngier |editor-first2=Erin |editor-last2=Shay |isbn=978-1-139-42364-9 |location=Cambridge |pages=28–33 |chapter=Berber |oclc=795895594}}</ref>