Editing Plautdietsch (section)

===Vowels===
[[File:Plautdietsch vowel chart (Canadian Old Colony dialect).svg|thumb|Vowels of the Canadian Old Colony dialect, from {{Harvcoltxt|Cox|Driedger|Tucker|2013|p=224}}]]

The [[vowel]] inventory of Plautdietsch is large, with 13 simple vowels, 10 diphthongs and one triphthong.

{| class="wikitable"
|+Vowels in Plautdietsch
|-
!scope="col"|Class
!scope="col"|[[Front vowel|Front]]
!scope="col"|[[Central vowel|Central]]
!scope="col"|[[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
!scope="row"|[[Close vowel|Close]]
| {{IPA|i}} {{IPA|y}} || || {{IPA|u}}
|-
!scope="row"|[[Near-close vowel|Near-close]]
|{{IPA|ɪ}} || ||{{IPA|ʊ}}
|-
!scope="row"|[[Close-mid vowel|Close-mid]]
| {{IPA|e}} || rowspan=2| {{IPA|ə}}|| {{IPA|o}}
|-
!scope="row"|[[Open-mid vowel|Open-mid]]
|{{IPA|ɛ}} || {{IPA|ɔ}}
|-
![[Open vowel|Open]]
|||{{IPA|a}} || {{IPA|ɑ}}
|}

* {{IPA|/y/}} is rounded and is heard only in the Old Colony and Bergthal groups.
* This table gives only a very general idea of Plautdietsch vowels, as their exact phonetic realizations vary considerably from dialect to dialect, although these differences are poorly documented. For instance, in the Canadian Old Colony dialect, {{IPA|/ɪ, ɛ/}} are strongly lowered to {{IPA|[{{IPAplink|ɛ}}, {{IPAplink|æ}}]}}, {{IPA|/ʊ/}} is mid-centralized to {{IPAblink|ɵ̞}}, whereas there is hardly any difference between {{IPA|/a/}} and {{IPA|/ɔ/}} (there is no {{IPA|/ɑ/}} in that variety), with both being pronounced {{IPAblink|ɐ}} or {{IPAblink|ɑ}}, although they are probably still distinguished by length and F3 values. Traditionally, Plautdietsch has been said to not have phonemic vowel length.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Cox|Driedger|Tucker|2013|pp=223–225}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|+Plautdietsch vowels with example words
! colspan="2" scope="col" |Symbol
! colspan="3" scope="col" |Example
|-
!scope="col"|[[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]]
![[orthography]]
!scope="col"|[[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]]
!scope="col"|[[orthography]]
!scope="col"|English translation
|-
!scope="row"|{{IPA|ɪ}}
!i
|{{IPA|bɪt}}
|''bitt''
|"(he) bites"
|-
!scope="row"|{{IPA|i}}
!ie
|{{IPA|bit}}
|''Biet''
|"piece"
|-
!scope="row"|ʉ
!u
|bʉt
|''but''
|"(he) builds"
|-
!scope="row"|{{IPA|ɛ}}
!e
|{{IPA|ʃɛp}}
|''Schepp''
|"ship"
|-
!scope="row"|e̝
!ä
|{{IPA|be̝t}}
|''bät''
|"bit"
|-
!scope="row"|e
!ei
|lev
|Leiw
|"lion"
|-
!scope="row"|{{IPA|ə}}
!e
|{{IPA|də}}
|'' de''
|"the"
|-
!scope="row"|{{IPA|ɔ}}
!au
|b{{IPA|ɔ}}l
|''Baul''
|"ball"
|-
!scope="row"|{{IPA|a}}
!a
|{{IPA|bad}}
|''Bad''
|"bed"
|-
!scope="row"|ɑ~ʌ
!o
|bʌl
|''Boll''
|"bull"
|-
!scope="row"|{{IPA|oː}}
!o
|{{IPA|rot}}
|''Rot''
|"advice"
|-
!scope="row"|{{IPA|u}}
!u
|{{IPA|rua}}
|''Rua''
|"tube, pipe"
|-
!scope="row"|{{IPA|ʊ}}
!u
|{{IPA|bʊk}}
|''Buck''
|"stomach"
|-
!scope="row"|{{IPA|ɔɪ}}
!ee
|{{IPA|bɔɪt}}
|''Beet''
|"beet"
|-
!scope="row"|ʌɪ
!ee
|ʌɪnt
|Eent
|"one"
|-
!scope="row"|œ~ø
!oo
|bøt
|''Boot''
|"boat"
|-
!scope="row"|{{IPA|ia}}
!ia
|{{IPA|via}}
|''wia''
|"(he) was"
|-
!scope="row"|{{IPA|iə}}
!iee
|{{IPA|viət}}
|''wieet''
|"worth"
|-
!scope="row"|{{IPA|ea}}
!äa
|{{IPA|vea}}
|''wäa''
|"who"
|-
!scope="row"|{{IPA|oa}}
!oa
|{{IPA|boa}}
|''Boa''
|"drill"
|-
!scope="row"|{{IPA|ua}}
!ua
|{{IPA|vua}}
|''wua''
|"where"
|-
!scope="row"|{{IPA|uə}}
!ua
|{{IPA|vuət}}
|''Wuat''
|"word"
|-
!scope="row"|ʉa
!ua
|bʉa
|''Bua''
|"farmer"
|-
!scope="row"|ɪu
!ua
|bɪuk
|''Buak''
|"book"
|-
!scope="row"|{{IPA|ɔɪa}}
!ea
|{{IPA|bɔɪa}}
|''Bea''
|"beer"
|}

The {{IPA|/u/}} sound has been shifted to {{IPA|/y/}} in the Old Colony dialect, leaving the sound only as part of the '''ua''' diphthong. However, in certain areas and age groups, there is a heavy tendency to shift {{IPA|/o/}} sound up to {{IPA|[u]}}.

Pronunciation of certain vowels and diphthongs varies from some speakers to others; the diphthong represented by '''ee''' for instances is pronounced {{IPA|[oi]}} or even {{IPA|[ei]}} by some. Likewise the long vowels represented by '''au''' and '''ei''' might have a diphthong glide into {{IPA|[ʊ]}} and {{IPA|[ɪ]}}, respectively.
* English sound equivalents are approximate. Long vowels ä and o do not have a diphthong glide.