Editing Juǀʼhoan language (section)

=== Vowels ===
{|class="wikitable"
! rowspan=2 | &nbsp;
! colspan=2 | Oral vowels
! colspan=2 | [[Nasal vowel]]s
|-
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
! Front
! Back
|-
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| align=center | {{IPA link|i}}
| align=center | {{IPA link|u}}
| align=center | {{IPA link|ĩ}}
| align=center | {{IPA link|ũ}}
|-
! [[Close-mid vowel|Close-mid]]
| align=center | {{IPA link|e}}
| align=center | {{IPA link|o}}
| align=center | {{IPA link|ẽ}}
| align=center | {{IPA link|õ}}
|-
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
| align=center colspan=2 | {{IPA link|a}}
| align=center colspan=2 | {{IPA link|ã}}
|}

* When a front vowel /e/ or /i/ follows a consonant with a back vowel constraint (e.g. clicks with uvular articulation), an [ə] is inserted before the front vowel, written 'a' in the orthography. For example, mi |'ae (myself) reads /mi |'əe/.
* The diphthong /oa/ may be realized as [wa].

Juǀʼhoan has five vowel qualities, which may be [[nasal vowel|nasalized]], [[glottalization|glottalized]], [[breathy voice|murmured]], or combinations of these, and most of these possibilities occur both long and short. The qualities {{IPA|/a/}} and {{IPA|/o/}} may also be [[pharyngealization|pharyngealized]] and [[Strident vowel|strident]] (epiglottalized). Besides, it is a [[Tone (linguistics)|tonal]] language with four tones: very high, high, low and very low tones.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dickens|first=Patrick |title=English-Juǀ'hoan/Juǀ'hoan-English Dictionary |publisher=Rüdiger Köppe Verlag |year=2009 |origyear=1992 |isbn=978-3-89645-868-1 |series=Quellen zur Khoisan-Forschung |volume=8 |location=Köln |pages=15–16}}</ref> Thus, there are a good 30 vowel phonemes, perhaps more, depending on one's analysis. There are, in addition, many vowel sequences and [[diphthong]]s.