Editing Catalan language (section)

=== Vowels ===
[[File:Catalan vowel chart.svg|thumb|[[Vowel]]s of Standard Eastern Catalan{{sfn|Carbonell|Llisterri|1999|p=62}}]]
Catalan has inherited the typical vowel system of [[Vulgar Latin]], with seven stressed phonemes: {{IPA|/a, ɛ, e, i, ɔ, o, u/}}, a common feature in [[Western Romance languages|Western Romance]], with the exception of [[Spanish language|Spanish]].{{sfn|Enciclopèdia Catalana|p=630}} [[Balearic dialect|Balearic]] also has instances of stressed {{IPA|/ə/}}.{{sfn|Wheeler|2005|pages=37, 53–54}} Dialects differ in the different degrees of [[vowel reduction]],{{sfn|Wheeler|2005|p=37}} and the incidence of the pair {{IPA|/ɛ, e/}}.{{sfn|Wheeler|2005|p=38}}

In [[Central Catalan]], unstressed vowels reduce to three: {{IPA|/a, e, ɛ/ > [ə]}}; {{IPA|/o, ɔ, u/ > [u]}}; {{IPA|/i/}} remains distinct.{{sfn|Wheeler|2005|p=54}} The other dialects have different vowel reduction processes (see the section [[#Dialect pronunciation section|pronunciation of dialects]] in this article).
{| class="wikitable"  style="margin:auto; text-align:center;"
|+ Examples of vowel reduction processes in Central Catalan{{sfn|Wheeler|2005|pages=53–55}}<br />The root is stressed in the first word and unstressed in the second
|-
! !! colspan="3" | Front vowels !! colspan="2" | Back vowels
|-
! Word<br />pair
| {{lang|ca|gel}} ("ice") <br /> {{lang|ca|gelat}} ("ice cream") || {{lang|ca|pedra}} ("stone") <br /> {{lang|ca|pedrera}} ("quarry") || {{lang|ca|banya}} ("he bathes") <br /> {{lang|ca|banyem}}/{{lang|ca|banyem}} ("we bathe") || {{lang|ca|cosa}} ("thing") <br /> {{lang|ca|coseta}} ("little thing") || {{lang|ca|tot}} ("everything") <br /> {{lang|ca|total}} ("total")
|-
! IPA<br />transcription
| {{IPA|[ˈʒɛl]}}<br />{{IPA|[ʒəˈlat]}} || {{IPA|[ˈpeðɾə]}}<br />{{IPA|[pəˈðɾeɾə]}} || {{IPA|[ˈbaɲə]}}<br />{{IPA|[bəˈɲɛm]}} || {{IPA|[ˈkɔzə]}}<br />{{IPA|[kuˈzɛtə]}} || {{IPA|[ˈtot]}}<br />{{IPA|[tuˈtal]}}
|}