Editing Polabian language (section)

==Phonology==
For Polabian the following segments are reconstructable:<ref>Cited after {{harvp|Polański|1993|p=799}}</ref>

===Vowels===
<div style="overflow:auto">
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|+ Polabian vowels{{sfn|Polański|1993|pp=799}}
!
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Central vowel|Central]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| {{IPA link|i}} <br/> {{IPA link|y}}
|
| {{IPA link|u}}
|-
! [[Close-mid vowel|Close-mid]]
| {{IPA link|e}}
|
| 
|-
! [[Open-mid vowel|Open-mid]]
| {{IPA link|ɛ}}<br/>{{IPA link|œ}}
| {{IPA link|ə}}
| {{IPA link|ɔ}}<br/>{{IPA link|ɔ̃}}
|-
! [[Near-open vowel|Near-open]]
| 
| {{IPA link|ɐ}}
| 
|-
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
| 
| {{IPA link|a}}<br/>{{IPA link|ã}}
| 
|}
</div>
<div style="overflow:auto">
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|+ Polabian diphthongs{{sfn|Polański|1993|pp=799}}
|-
! [[Diphthong]]s
| {{IPA|ai}}
| {{IPA|ɒi}}
| {{IPA|oi}}
| {{IPA|au}}
| {{IPA|ɒu}}
|}
</div>

===Consonants===
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Polabian consonant segments
|-
!colspan="1"|
!colspan="2"|[[Labial consonant|Labial]]
!colspan="1"|[[dental consonant|Dental]]
!colspan="2"|[[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
!colspan="1"|[[palatal consonant|Palatal]]
!colspan="1"|[[palatal consonant|Post-<br />palatal]]
![[velar consonant|Velar]]
|-
!colspan="1" rowspan="2" |[[plosive consonant|Plosives]]
| align=center | {{IPA link|p}}
| align=center | {{IPA link|pʲ}}
| align=center | {{IPA link|t̪}}
| align=center |
| align=center |
| align=center | {{IPA link|tʲ}}
| align=center |
| align=center | {{IPA link|k}}
|-
| align=center | {{IPA link|b}}
| align=center | {{IPA link|bʲ}}
| align=center | {{IPA link|d̪}}
| align=center |
| align=center |
| align=center | {{IPA link|dʲ}}
| align=center |
| align=center | {{IPA link|ɡ}}
|-
!colspan="1" rowspan="2"|[[affricate consonant|Affricates]]
| align=center |
| align=center |
| align=center | {{IPA link|t̪͡s̪}}
| align=center |
| align=center |
| align=center | {{IPA link|t͡sʲ}}
| align=center |
| align=center |
|-
| align=center |
| align=center |
| align=center | {{IPA link|d̪͡z̪}}
| align=center |
| align=center |
| align=center | {{IPA link|d͡zʲ}}
| align=center |
| align=center |
|-
!colspan="1" rowspan="2" |[[fricative consonant|Fricatives]]
| align=center | {{IPA link|f}}
| align=center |
| align=center | {{IPA link|s̪}}
| align=center | {{IPA link|ʃ}}
| align=center |
| align=center | {{IPA link|sʲ}}
| align=center | {{IPA link|xʲ}}
| align=center | {{IPA link|x}}
|-
| align=center | {{IPA link|v}}
| align=center | {{IPA link|vʲ}}
| align=center | {{IPA link|z̪}}
| align=center |
| align=center |
| align=center | {{IPA link|zʲ}}
| align=center |
| align=center |
|-
!colspan="1" rowspan="1" |[[Nasal stop|Nasals]]
| align=center | {{IPA link|m}}
| align=center | {{IPA link|mʲ}}
| align=center | {{IPA link|n̪}}
| align=center |
| align=center |
| align=center | {{IPA link|nʲ}}
| align=center |
| align=center |
|-
!colspan="1" rowspan="1" |[[lateral consonant|Laterals]]
| align=center |
| align=center |
| align=center |
| align=center | {{IPA link|l}}
| align=center | {{IPA link|lʲ}}
| align=center |
| align=center |
| align=center |
|-
!colspan="1" rowspan="1" |[[trill consonant|Trills]]
| align=center |
| align=center |
| align=center |
| align=center | {{IPA link|r}}
| align=center | {{IPA link|rʲ}}
| align=center |
| align=center |
| align=center |
|-
!colspan="1"|[[Semi-vowel]]
| align=center |
| align=center |
| align=center |
| align=center |
| align=center |
| align=center | {{IPA link|j}}
| align=center |
| align=center |
|}

===Prosody===
The nature of the Polabian accent remains a controversial issue. There are three theories:{{sfn|Olesch|1977|pp=5—6}}
* [[Free stress]], supported by A. Schleicher, T. Lehr-Spławiński, and A. M. Selishchev.
* Stress was always initial, i.e. always occurring on the first syllable, supported by E. Kurilovich.
* Final stress if the final vowel was long, and pentulimate stress if the final vowel was short, supported by N. S. Trubetskoy and R. Olesh. K. Polański criticizes this theory asserting that there was not long-short distinction in Polabian, but rather strong-weak.