Editing Tuvaluan language (section)

== Phonology ==

=== Vowels ===
The sound system of Tuvaluan consists of five [[vowel]]s ({{IPA|/i/, /e/, /a/, /o/, /u/}}). All vowels come in short and long forms, which are contrastive.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+Vowels
! rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" |[[Short vowel|Short]]
! colspan="2" |[[Long vowel|Long]]
|-
![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Back vowel|Back]]
!Front
!Back
|-
![[Close vowel|Close]]
|{{IPA link|i}}
|{{IPA link|u}}
|{{IPA link|iː}}
|{{IPA link|uː}}
|-
![[Mid vowel|Mid]]
|{{IPA link|e}}
|{{IPA link|o}}
|{{IPA link|eː}}
|{{IPA link|oː}}
|-
![[Open vowel|Open]]
| colspan="2" |{{IPA link|a}}
| colspan="2" |{{IPA link|aː}}
|}

There are no [[diphthong]]s so every vowel is sounded separately. Example: {{lang|tvl|taeao}} ‘tomorrow’ is pronounced as four separate syllables (ta-e-a-o).{{sfn|Kennedy|1954}}

=== Consonants ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+Consonants
!
![[Labial consonant|Labial]]
![[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
![[Velar consonant|Velar]]
![[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
![[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
|{{IPA link|m}}
|{{IPA link|n}}
|{{IPA link|ŋ}} {{grapheme|g}}
|
|-
![[Plosive]]
|{{IPA link|p}}
|{{IPA link|t}}
|{{IPA link|k}}
|
|-
![[Fricative]]
|{{IPA link|f}} &emsp; {{IPA link|v}}
|{{IPA link|s}}
|
|{{IPA link|h}}{{efn|{{IPA|/h/}} is used only in limited circumstances in the Nukulaelae dialect.}}
|-
![[Lateral consonant|Lateral]]
|
|{{IPA link|l}}
|
|
|}
{{notelist}}

The sound system of Tuvaluan consists of 10 or 11 [[consonant]]s ({{IPA|/p/, /t/, /k/, /m/, /n/, /ŋ/, /f/, /v/, /s/, /h/, /l/}}), depending on the dialect. All consonants also come in short and [[Gemination|geminated]] (long) forms, which are contrastive. The phoneme {{IPA|/ŋ/}} is written {{grapheme|g}}. All other sounds are represented with letters corresponding to their IPA symbols.

=== Phonotactics ===
Like most Polynesian languages, Tuvaluan syllables can either be V or CV. Both vowels and consonants can be long or short. There is no restriction on the placement of consonants, although they cannot be used at the end of words (as per the syllabic restrictions). Consonant clusters are not present in Tuvaluan.

===Phonology of loanwords===
None of the units in the Tuvaluan phonemic inventory are restricted to loanwords only. English is the only language from which loanwords are currently being borrowed – loans from Samoan and [[Gilbertese language|Gilbertese]] have already been adapted to fit Tuvaluan phonology. More established, conventional English borrowings are more likely to have been adapted to the standard phonology than those that have been adopted more recently.{{sfn|Besnier|2000}}

===Stress, gemination and lengthening===
Stress is on the penultimate [[Mora (linguistics)|mora]]. [[Gemination|Geminated]] consonants have the following main functions:

* Pluralisation – e.g. {{lang|tvl|nofo}} 'sit' (singular) v {{lang|tvl|nnofo}} 'sit' (plural)
* Contraction of reduplicated syllable – e.g. {{lang|tvl|lelei}} 'good' in Northern dialects becomes {{lang|tvl|llei}} in Southern dialects.
* Contraction of the definite article {{lang|tvl|te}} – e.g. {{lang|tvl|te tagata}} 'the man' becomes {{lang|tvl|ttagata}}.
* Differentiation of meaning between two words – e.g. {{lang|tvl|mmala}} 'overcooked' v {{lang|tvl|mala}} 'plague'<ref name="Jack">{{cite book |last1= Jackson|first1= Geoff and Jenny |title=An introduction to Tuvaluan|year=1999 |publisher=Suva: Oceania Printers }}</ref>

Long vowels can be used to indicate pluralisation or a differentiation of meaning.