Editing Massachusett language (section)

=== Vowels ===

{|class="wikitable"
|-
|+ Massachusett vowel inventory<ref name="bigorrin.org">O'Brien, F. W. (2005). New England Algonquian Language Revival. Retrieved from http://www.bigorrin.org/waabu11.htm</ref><ref name="Eliot, J. 1832">Eliot, J. (1832). ''The Indian Grammar Begun''. ''Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society'', IX(2), 243–312. Reprint of 1666 original.</ref>
!
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Central vowel|Central]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| align="center"|{{IPAblink|iː}}
|
| align="center"|{{IPAblink|uː}}
|-
! [[Mid vowel|Mid]]
|
| align="center"|{{IPAblink|ə}},{{IPAblink|ʲᵊ}}
| align="center"|
|-
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
| align="center"|{{IPAblink|aː}}, {{IPAblink|a}}
|
| align="center"|{{IPAblink|ã}} 
|-
|}

The symmetric vowel inventory of Proto-Algonquian was reduced through mergers along the course of its development. Massachusett vowels can be divided into the long vowels {{IPA|/aː/}}, {{IPA|/iː/}} and {{IPA|/uː/}}; the short vowels {{IPA|/a/}} and {{IPA|/ə/}} and the nasal vowel {{IPA|/ã/}}, which may also be considered a long vowel as it is stressed and lengthened in speech as the other long vowels.

The language is rich in various vowel combinations and diphthongs created with final {{IPA|/j/}} and {{IPA|/w/}}, which are often productive verbal elements. Two vowels together usually indicate hiatus of two distinct sounds and not a true diphthong, e.g., English ''co'''a'''gulate'' and ''n'''ai'''ve''. Thus, {{Lang|wam|waapinum}} ({{Lang|wam|wââpunum}}), 'to lift up,' is pronounced {{IPA|/waːaːpənəm/|lang=wam}} and not *{{IPA|/waːːpənəm/|lang=wam}}. Nevertheless, combinations of vowels and vowel-glide consonant (semivowel) are particularly numerous, not limited to {{IPA|/a a/}}, {{IPA|/aː a/}}, {{IPA|/aː ã/}} {{IPA|/ã ə/}}, {{IPA|/aː iː/}}, {{IPA|/ãwa/}}, {{IPA|/əj/}}, {{IPA|/əw/}}, {{IPA|/əwa/}}, {{IPA|/əwaː/}}, {{IPA|/əwã/}}, {{IPA|/əwə/}}, {{IPA|/awa/}}, {{IPA|/aːw/}}, {{IPA|/aw/}}, {{IPA|/ja/}}, {{IPA|/jã/}}, {{IPA|/iːw/}}, {{IPA|/uːaːã/}}, etc.

Due to the wide variance of spelling, the vowels have been hardest to reconstruct for the language. The exact value is unknown, and the vowels {{IPA|/a/}}, {{IPA|/ã/}}, and {{IPA|/aː/}} could have had values of {{IPA|/ɑ/}}, {{IPA|/ɑ̃/}}, {{IPA|/ɑː/}}, or {{IPA|/ɔ/}}, {{IPA|/ɔ̃/}}, {{IPA|/ɔː/}}. Some dialects may have differed in pronunciation, perhaps using the sounds {{IPA|/ɔ̃/}} and {{IPA|/ɑ/}} to represent the letters {{IPA|/ô/}} and {{IPA|/â/}}.<ref name="Fun" /><ref name="Goddard, I. 1990 pp. 227-244"/><ref name="bigorrin.org"/><ref name="Eliot, J. 1832"/><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.wlrp.org/fun-with-words.html|title=WLRP. Fun with Words|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140815111450/http://www.wlrp.org/fun-with-words.html|archive-date=2014-08-15|access-date=2017-03-03}}</ref>