User:Bukkia/sandboxVIII

Vowels

There are 6 vocalic phonemes, which display other forms of distinction.

IPA		Transcription
front	back	front	back
[i]	[u]	i	u
[e]	[o]	e	o
[æ]	[a]	æ	a

The relative scarcity of the vowel system is balanced by the ability of every vowel to be lenghtened in every syllabic position. This distinction between short and long vowels is phomenic, essentially doubling the amount of the distinguished consonants up to 12.

sampo - sampoo [sampo – sampoː]
new - bird

As seen from the above example, long vowels are orthographically transcribed with a double letter.

Moreover, all vowels make a primary distinction in backness, being divided in two groups: front vowels and back vowels. This distinction is relevant in the process of vowel harmony between the root and every morphological or derivational affix.