Editing Vowel (section)

== Systems ==
The importance of vowels in distinguishing one word from another varies from language to language. Nearly all languages have at least three phonemic vowels, usually {{IPA|/i/, /a/, /u/}} as in [[Classical Arabic]], some [[Malayic languages]] of Borneo (including [[Banjarese language|Banjarese]]) and [[Inuktitut language|Inuktitut]], though [[Adyghe language|Adyghe]] and many [[Sepik languages]] have a [[vertical vowel system]] of {{IPA|/ɨ/, /ə/, /a/}}. Very few languages have fewer, though some [[Arrernte language|Arrernte]], [[Northwest Caucasian languages|Circassian]], and [[Ndu languages]] have been argued to have just two, {{IPA|/ə/}} and {{IPA|/a/}}, with {{IPA|[ɨ]}} being [[epenthesis|epenthetic]].

It is not straightforward to say which language has the most vowels, since that depends on how they are counted. For example, long vowels, nasal vowels, and various [[phonation]]s may or may not be counted separately; indeed, it may sometimes be unclear if phonation belongs to the vowels or the consonants of a language. If such things are ignored and only vowels with dedicated IPA letters ('vowel qualities') are considered, then very few languages have more than ten. The [[Germanic languages]] have some of the largest inventories: [[Danish phonology|Standard Danish]] has 11 to 13 short vowels ({{IPA|/(a), ɑ, (ɐ), e, ə, ɛ, i, o, ɔ, u, ø, œ, y/}}), while the [[Amstetten (district)|Amstetten]] dialect of [[Bavarian German|Bavarian]] has been reported to have thirteen long vowels: {{IPA|/i, y, e, ø, ɛ, œ, æ, ɶ, a, ɒ, ɔ, o, u/}}.{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}} The situation can be quite disparate within a same family language: [[Spanish language|Spanish]] and [[French language|French]] are two closely related [[Romance languages]] but Spanish has only five pure vowel qualities, {{IPA|/a, e, i, o, u/}}, while classical French has eleven: {{IPA|/a, ɑ, e, ɛ, i, o, ɔ, u, y, œ, ø/}} and four nasal vowels {{IPA|/ɑ̃/, /ɛ̃/, /ɔ̃/ and /œ̃/}}. The [[Mon–Khmer languages]] of Southeast Asia also have some large inventories, such as the ten vowels of [[Khmer language|Khmer]]: {{IPA|/i, ɨ, e, ɛ, a, ɑ, ɔ, o, u, ə/}}. [[Wu Chinese|Wu]] dialects have the largest inventories of Chinese; the [[Jinhui dialect]] of Wu has also been reported to have eleven vowels: ten basic vowels, {{IPA|/i, y, e, ø, ɛ, ɑ, ɔ, o, u, ɯ/}}, plus restricted {{IPA|/ɨ/}}; this does not count the seven nasal vowels.<!--An earlier link had {{IPA|/i y e ø æ a ɑ ɯ u ɵ ɒ ɐ/}}, plus restricted {{IPA|/ɿ/}}, and allophones {{IPA|[ʌ ɛ ə ɤ ɪ ɔ o œ ʏ]}}, which differs from the current link.--><ref>[http://comonca.org.cn/lh/Doc/D13.pdf Values in open oral syllables] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726061849/http://comonca.org.cn/lh/Doc/D13.pdf |date=2011-07-26 }}</ref>

One of the most common vowels is {{IPA|[a̠]}}; it is nearly universal for a language to have at least one open vowel, though most dialects of English have an {{IPA|[æ]}} and a {{IPA|[ɑ]}}—and often an {{IPA|[ɒ]}}, all open vowels—but no central {{IPA|[a]}}. Some [[Tagalog phonology|Tagalog]] and [[Cebuano language|Cebuano]] speakers have {{IPA|[ɐ]}} rather than {{IPA|[a]}}, and [[Yolŋu Matha|Dhangu Yolngu]] is described as having {{IPA|/ɪ ɐ ʊ/}}, without any peripheral vowels. {{IPA|[i]}} is also extremely common, though [[Tehuelche language|Tehuelche]] has just the vowels {{IPA|/e a o/}} with no close vowels. The third vowel of the Arabic-type three-vowel system, {{IPA|/u/}}, is considerably less common. A large fraction of the languages of North America happen to have a four-vowel system without {{IPA|/u/}}: {{IPA|/i, e, a, o/}}; [[Nahuatl language|Nahuatl]] and [[Navajo language|Navajo]] are examples.

In most languages, vowels serve mainly to distinguish separate [[lexeme]]s, rather than different inflectional forms of the same lexeme as they commonly do in the Semitic languages. For example, while English ''man'' becomes ''men'' in the plural, ''moon'' is a completely different word.

===Words without vowels===
{{see also|English words without vowels}}

In rhotic dialects of English, as in Canada and the United States, there are many words such as ''bird, learn, girl, church, worst, worm, [[myrrh]]'' that some phoneticians analyze as having no vowels, only a syllabic consonant {{IPA|/ɹ̩/}}. However, others analyze these words instead as having a [[rhotic vowel]], {{IPA|/ɝː/}}. The difference may be partially one of dialect.

There are a few such words that are disyllabic, like ''[[Wikt:cursor|cursor]], [[curtain]],'' and ''[[turtle]]:'' {{IPA|[ˈkɹ̩sɹ̩]}}, {{IPA|[ˈkɹ̩tn̩]}} and {{IPA|[ˈtɹ̩tl̩]}} (or {{IPA|[ˈkɝːsɚ]}}, {{IPA|[ˈkɝːtən]}}, and {{IPA|[ˈtɝːtəl]}}), and even a few that are trisyllabic, at least in some accents, such as ''purpler'' {{IPA|[ˈpɹ̩.pl̩.ɹ̩]}}, ''hurdler'' {{IPA|[ˈhɹ̩.dl̩.ɹ̩]}}, ''gurgler'' {{IPA|[ˈɡɹ̩.ɡl̩.ɹ̩]}}, and ''certainer'' {{IPA|[ˈsɹ̩.tn̩.ɹ̩]}}.

The word ''and'' frequently contracts to a simple [[nasal consonant|nasal]] ''’n,'' as in ''lock 'n key'' {{IPA|[ˌlɒk ŋ ˈkiː]}}. Words such as ''will, have,'' and ''is'' regularly contract to ''’ll'' {{IPA|[l]}}, ''’ve'' {{IPA|[v]}}, and '''s'' {{IPA|[z]}}. However, none of them are pronounced alone without vowels, so they are not phonological words. [[onomatopoeia|Onomatopoeic]] words that can be pronounced alone, and that have no vowels or ars, include ''hmm, pst!, shh!, [[Dental clicks|tsk]]!,'' and ''zzz''. As in other languages, onomatopoeiae stand outside the normal phonotactics of English.

There are other languages that form lexical words without vowel sounds. In [[Serbo-Croatian]], for example, the consonants {{IPA|[r]}} and {{IPA|[rː]}} (the difference is not written) can act as a [[syllable nucleus]] and carry rising or falling [[tone (linguistics)|tone]]; examples include the tongue-twister {{lang|sh|na vrh brda vrba mrda}} and geographic names such as {{lang|sh|[[Krk]]}}. In [[Czech language|Czech]] and [[Slovak language|Slovak]], either {{IPA|[l]}} or {{IPA|[r]}} can stand in for vowels: {{lang|cs|vlk}} {{IPA|[vl̩k]}} "wolf", {{lang|cs|krk}} {{IPA|[kr̩k]}} "neck". A particularly long word without vowels is {{lang|cs|čtvrthrst}}, meaning "quarter-handful", with two syllables (one for each R), or {{lang|cs|scvrnkls}}, a verb form meaning "you flipped (sth) down" (eg a marble). Whole sentences (usually tongue-twisters) can be made from such words, such as {{lang|cs|[[Strč prst skrz krk]]}}, meaning "stick a finger through your neck" ({{IPA|cs|str̩tʃ pr̩st skr̩s kr̩k|pron|Prst a krk.ogg}}), and {{langx|cs|Smrž pln skvrn zvlhl z mlh|label=none}}, which means "A morel full of spots wetted from fogs". (Here {{lang|cs|zvlhl}} has two syllables based on L; and the [[preposition]] {{lang|cs|z}} consists of a single consonant. Only prepositions do this in Czech, and they normally link phonetically to the following word, so not really behave as vowelless words.) In Russian, there are also prepositions that consist of a single consonant letter, like {{langx|ru|k|lit=to|label=none}}, {{langx|ru|v|lit=in|label=none}}, and {{langx|ru|s|lit=with|label=none}}. However, these forms are actually contractions of {{lang|ru|ko}}, {{lang|ru|vo}}, and {{lang|ru|so}} respectively, and these forms are still used in modern Russian before words with certain consonant clusters for ease of pronunciation.

In [[Kazakh language|Kazakh]] and certain other [[Turkic languages]], words without vowel sounds may occur due to reduction of weak vowels. A common example is the Kazakh word for one: {{lang|kk|bir}}, pronounced {{IPA|[br]}}. Among careful speakers, however, the original vowel may be preserved, and the vowels are always preserved in the orthography.

In Southern [[varieties of Chinese]], such as [[Cantonese]] and [[Southern Min|Minnan]], some monosyllabic words are made of exclusively [[nasal consonant|nasal]]s, such as Cantonese {{IPA|[m̩˨˩]}} "no" and {{IPA|[ŋ̩˩˧]}} "five". Minnan also has words consisting of a consonant followed by a syllabic nasal, such as ''pn̄g'' "cooked rice".

So far, all of these syllabic consonants, at least in the [[lexical words]], have been [[sonorant]]s, such as {{IPA|[r]}}, {{IPA|[l]}}, {{IPA|[m]}}, and {{IPA|[n]}}, which have a [[voice (phonetics)|voiced]] quality similar to vowels. (They can carry tone, for example.) However, there are languages with lexical words that not only contain no vowels, but contain no sonorants at all, like (non-lexical) ''shh!'' in English. These include some [[Berber languages]], some languages of the American [[Pacific Northwest]], such as [[Nuxalk language|Nuxalk]], and some [[Northwest Caucasian languages]], such as [[Abaza language]]. An example from Nuxalk is {{lang|blc|scs}} "seal fat" (pronounced {{IPA|sal|sxs|}}, as spelled), and a longer one is ''[[wikt:xłp̓x̣ʷłtłpłłskʷc̓|clhp'xwlhtlhplhhskwts']]'' (pronounced {{IPA|sal|xɬpʼχʷɬtʰɬpʰɬːskʷʰt͡sʼ|}}) "he had had in his possession a bunchberry plant". (Follow the Nuxalk link for other examples.) Berber examples include {{IPA|/tkkststt/}} "you took it off" and {{IPA|/tfktstt/}} "you gave it". Some words may contain one or two consonants only: {{IPA|/ɡ/}} "be", {{IPA|/ks/}} "feed on".<ref>Audio recordings of selected words without vowels can be downloaded from {{cite web|url=http://ed268.univ-paris3.fr/lpp/pages/EQUIPE/ridouane/audio.doc |title=audio.doc |access-date=2009-06-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090320021843/http://ed268.univ-paris3.fr/lpp/pages/EQUIPE/ridouane/audio.doc |archive-date=2009-03-20 }}.</ref> 

Abaza language often drops word-final /ə/ when forming compounds, making combinations such as хъкӏхвбкъвылкӏ /qʰkʼχʷbqʷʼəlkʼ/ "five vats of sour cream" possible. Therefore, even though the dictionary forms хъкӏы /qʰkʼə/ "sour cream" and хвпа /χʷpʰa/ "five" have a [[Ə|schwa]] at the end, the consonant cluster /qʰkʼ/ and the sole consonant /χʷ/ (-pa is a [[Measure word|counting suffix]]) can be analysed as the full word, with final vowels probably being a result of obligatory [[Syllable#Nucleus|nucleus]] (such as in the first example, where the word бкъвыл /bqʷʼəl/ "vat" is a closed syllable, preventing the vowel deletion, unless /l/ is analysed as a [[syllabic consonant]], which would still make it a nucleus but would make the word vowelless). 

In [[Mandarin Chinese]], words and syllables such as {{lang|cmn|sī}} and {{lang|cmn|zhī}} are sometimes described as being syllabic fricatives and affricates phonemically, {{IPA|/ś/}} and {{IPA|/tʂ́/}}, but these do have a voiced segment that carries the tone. 

In the [[Japonic language]] [[Miyako language|Miyako]], there are words with no voiced sounds, such as {{lang|mvi|ss}} 'dust', {{lang|mvi|kss}} 'breast/milk', {{lang|mvi|pss}} 'day', {{lang|mvi|ff}} 'a comb', {{lang|mvi|kff}} 'to make', {{lang|mvi|fks}} 'to build', {{lang|mvi|ksks}} 'month', {{lang|mvi|sks}} 'to cut', {{lang|mvi|psks}} 'to pull'. 

Some analyses of [[Wandala language|Wandala]] is reported to have no phonemic vowels.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Wolff|first1=H. Ekkehard|title='Vocalogenesis' in (Central) Chadic languages|url=http://www.eva.mpg.de/fileadmin/content_files/linguistics/conferences/2015-diversity-linguistics/Wolff_slides.pdf|access-date=2 December 2017}}</ref>

===Words consisting of only vowels===
It is not uncommon for short grammatical words to consist of only vowels, such as ''a'' and ''I'' in English. Lexical words are somewhat rarer in English and are generally restricted to a single syllable: ''eye, awe, owe'', and in non-rhotic accents ''air, ore, err''. Vowel-only words of more than one syllable are generally foreign loans, such as ''ai'' (two syllables: {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɑː|i}}) for the [[maned sloth]], or proper names, such as ''[[Iowa]]'' (in some accents: {{IPAc-en|ˈ|aɪ|.|oʊ|.|ə}}).

However, vowel sequences in [[hiatus (linguistics)|hiatus]] are more freely allowed in some other languages, most famously perhaps in [[Bantu languages|Bantu]] and [[Polynesian languages|Polynesian]] languages, but also in [[Japanese language|Japanese]] and [[Finnic languages]]. In such languages there tends to be a larger variety of vowel-only words. In [[Swahili language|Swahili]] (Bantu), for example, there is ''[[wikt:aua|aua]]'' 'to survey' and ''[[wikt:eua|eua]]'' 'to purify' (both three syllables); in Japanese, ''[[wikt:aoi|aoi]]'' 青い 'blue/green' and ''[[wikt:oioi|oioi]]'' 追々 'gradually' (three and four [[On (Japanese prosody)|morae]]); and in Finnish, {{lang|fi|aie}} 'intention' and {{lang|fi|auo}} 'open!' (both two syllables), although some dialects pronounce them as {{lang|fi|aije}} and {{lang|fi|auvo}}. In [[Urdu]], āye/aaie {{Script/Nastaliq|آئیے}} or āyn {{Script/Nastaliq|آئیں}} 'come' is used. [[Hawaiian language|Hawaiian]], and the Polynesian languages generally, have unusually large numbers of such words, such as {{lang|haw|aeāea}} (a small green fish), which is three syllables: {{lang|haw|ae.āe.a}}. Most long words involve [[reduplication]], which is quite [[Productivity (linguistics)|productive]] in Polynesian: {{lang|haw|ioio}} 'grooves', {{lang|haw|eaea}} 'breath', {{lang|haw|uaua}} 'tough' (all four syllables), {{lang|haw|auēuē}} 'crying' (five syllables, from {{lang|haw|uē (uwē)}} 'to weep'), {{lang|haw|uoa}} or {{lang|haw|uouoa}} 'false mullet' (sp. fish, three or five syllables).{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}