Editing Shilha language (section)

==== Transitional vowels and "schwa" ====
In addition to the three phonemic vowels, there are non-phonemic transitional vowels, often collectively referred to as "[[schwa]]". Typically, a transitional vowel is audible following the onset of a vowelless syllable CC or CCC, if either of the flanking consonants, or both, are voiced,<ref>Galand (1988, 2.1).</ref> for example {{Lang|shi-latn|tigmmi}} {{IPA|[tiɡĭmmi]}} "house", {{Lang|shi-latn|amḥḍar}} {{IPA|[amɐ̆ʜdˤɐr]}} "schoolboy". In the phonetic transcriptions of Stumme (1899) and Destaing (1920, 1940), many such transitional vowels are indicated.

Later authors such as Aspinion (1953), use the symbol {{angbr|e}} to mark the place where a transitional vowel may be heard, irrespective of its quality, and they also write {{angbr|e}} where in reality no vowel, however short, is heard, for example {{angbr|akessab}} {{IPA|/akssab/}} "owner of livestock", {{angbr|ar icetta}} {{IPA|/ar iʃtta/}} "he's eating". The symbol {{angbr|e}}, often referred to as "[[schwa]]", as used by Aspinion and others, thus becomes a purely graphical device employed to indicate that the preceding consonant is a syllable onset: {{Lang|shi-latn|[a.k(e)s.sab]|italic=no}}, {{Lang|shi-latn|[a.ri.c(e)t.ta]|italic=no}}.<ref>Cf. Dell and Elmedlaoui (2002:232), who observe the same practice in transcriptions of Moroccan Arabic. The practice is almost never applied entirely consistently. For example, the noun {{Lang|shi-latn|idrimn}} "money" is written as {{angbr|idrimen}}, with {{angbr|e}} indicating that {{Lang|shi-latn|m}} is the onset of the last syllable: {{Lang|shi-latn|[id.ri.m(e)n]|italic=no}}. But when a vowel follows, as in {{Lang|shi-latn|idrimn inu}} "my money", {{angbr|e}} should not be written, because the syllabic structure then becomes {{Lang|shi-latn|[id.rim.ni.nu]|italic=no}}. In such cases Aspinion and others routinely write {{angbr|idrimen inu}}, with superfluous {{angbr|e}}.</ref> As Galand has observed, the notation of "schwa" in fact results from "habits which are alien to Shilha".<ref>Galand (1988, 2.1), "le plus souvant les nombreuses notations de [ə] que l'on observe chez les berbèrisants résultent d'habitudes étrangères au chleuh".</ref> And, as conclusively shown by Ridouane (2008), transitional vowels or "intrusive vocoids" cannot even be accorded the status of [[Epenthesis|epenthetic]] vowels. It is therefore preferable not to write transitional vowels or "schwa", and to transcribe the vowels in a strictly phonemic manner, as in Galand (1988) and all recent text editions.{{efn|Text published in the modern orthography in Arabic script also do not represent transitional vowels or "schwa".}}