Editing Swahili language (section)

===Vowels===
Standard Swahili has five vowel [[phoneme]]s: {{IPA|/ɑ/}}, {{IPA|/ɛ/}}, {{IPA|/i/}}, {{IPA|/ɔ/}}, and {{IPA|/u/}}. According to [[Ellen Contini-Morava]], vowels are never [[vowel reduction|reduced]], regardless of [[stress (linguistics)|stress]].<ref name=":1">Contini-Morava, Ellen. 1997. Swahili Phonology. In Kaye, Alan S. (ed.), Phonologies of Asia and Africa 2, 841–860. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns.</ref> However, according to [[Edgar Polomé]], these five phonemes can vary in pronunciation. Polomé claims that {{IPA|/ɛ/}}, {{IPA|/i/}}, {{IPA|/ɔ/}}, and {{IPA|/u/}} are pronounced as such only in stressed syllables. In unstressed syllables, as well as before a [[prenasalized consonant]], they are pronounced as {{IPA|[e]}}, {{IPA|[ɪ]}}, {{IPA|[o]}}, and {{IPA|[ʊ]}}. ''E'' is also commonly pronounced as mid-position after ''w''. Polomé claims that {{IPA|/ɑ/}} is pronounced as such only after ''w'' and is pronounced as {{IPA|[a]}} in other situations, especially after {{IPA|/j/}} (''y''). ''A'' can be pronounced as {{IPA|[ə]}} in word-final position.<ref name="files.eric.ed.gov">{{Citation |title=Swahili Language Handbook |url=https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED012888.pdf |type=Report |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127014857/http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED012888.pdf |access-date=12 September 2019 |archive-date=27 November 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Vowel length|Long vowels]] in Swahili are written as doubled vowels (for example, {{lang|sw|kondoo}}, "sheep") due to a historical process in which {{IPA|/l/}} became [[Elision|elided]] between the second last and last vowels of a word (for example, {{lang|sw|kondoo}}, "sheep" was originally ''kondolo'', which survives in certain dialects{{which|date=June 2024}}). As a consequence, long vowels are not considered [[phonemic]]. A similar process exists in [[Zulu language#Vowels|Zulu]].