Editing Lingala (section)

===Vowels===
{| class="wikitable"
!
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|- style="text-align: center;"
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| {{IPA|i}}
| {{IPA|u}}
|- style="text-align: center;"
! [[Close-mid vowel|Close-mid]]
| {{IPA|e}}
| {{IPA|o}}
|- style="text-align: center;"
! [[Open-mid vowel|Open-mid]]
| {{IPA|ɛ}}
| {{IPA|ɔ}}
|- style="text-align: center;"
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|a}}
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! IPA
! Example (IPA)
! Example (written)
! Meaning
! Notes
|-
| style="font-size: larger;" | {{IPA link|i}}
| {{IPA|/lilála/}}
| lilála
| orange
|
|-
| style="font-size: larger;" | {{IPA link|u}}
| {{IPA|/kulutu/}}
| kulútu
| elder
|
|-
| style="font-size: larger;" | {{IPA link|e}}
| {{IPA|/eloᵑɡi/}}
| elongi
| face
|
|-
| style="font-size: larger;" | {{IPA link|o}}
| {{IPA|/mobáli/}}
| mobáli
| boy
| pronounced slightly higher than the cardinal {{IPA|o}},<br /> realized as {{IPA|[o̝]}}
|-
| style="font-size: larger;" | {{IPA link|ɛ}}
| {{IPA|/lɛlɔ́/}}
| lɛlɔ́
| today
|
|-
| style="font-size: larger;" | {{IPA link|ɔ}}
| {{IPA|/ᵐbɔ́ᵑɡɔ/}}
| mbɔ́ngɔ
| money
|
|-
| style="font-size: larger;" | {{IPA link|a}}
| {{IPA|/áwa/}}
| áwa
| here
|
|}

====Vowel harmony====
Lingala words show [[vowel harmony]] to some extent. The close-mid vowels {{IPA|/e/}} and {{IPA|/o/}} normally do not mix with the open-mid vowels {{IPA|/ɛ/}} and {{IPA|/ɔ/}} in words. For example, the words ''ndɔbɔ'' 'fishhook' and ''ndobo'' 'mouse trap' are found, but not ''*ndɔbo'' or ''*ndobɔ''.

====Vowel shift====
The Lingala spoken in Kinshasa shows a vowel shift from {{IPA|/ɔ/}} to {{IPA|/o/}}, leading to the absence of the phoneme {{IPA|/ɔ/}} in favor of {{IPA|/o/}}. The same occurs with {{IPA|/ɛ/}} and {{IPA|/e/}}, leading to just {{IPA|/e/}}. So in Kinshasa, a native speaker will say ''mbóte'' as {{IPA|/ᵐbóte/}}, compared to the more traditional pronunciation, {{IPA|/ᵐbɔ́tɛ/}}.