Editing Slavomolisano dialect (section)

== Phonology ==

===Consonants===
The consonant system of Molise Slavic is as follows, with parenthesized consonants indicating sounds that appear only as allophones:<ref name=DMAC>Walter Breu and Giovanni Piccoli ('''2000'''), ''Dizionario croato molisano di Acquaviva Collecroce: Dizionario plurilingue della lingua slava della minoranza di provenienza dalmata di Acquaviva Collecroce in Provincia di Campobasso'' (Parte grammaticale).</ref>

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
!
! [[labial consonant|Labial]]
! [[dental consonant|Dental]]
! [[palato-alveolar consonant|Palato-<br/>alveolar]]
! [[palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[velar consonant|Velar]]
|-
! [[Plosive]]
|{{IPA link|p}}&nbsp;{{IPA link|b}}
|{{IPA link|t}}&nbsp;{{IPA link|d}}
|
|{{IPA link|c}}&nbsp;{{IPA link|ɟ}}
|{{IPA link|k}}&nbsp;{{IPA link|ɡ}}
|-
! [[Affricate]]
|
|{{IPA link|t͡s}}&nbsp;{{IPA link|d͡z}}
|{{IPA link|t͡ʃ}}&nbsp;{{IPA link|d͡ʒ}}
|
|
|-
! [[Fricative]]
|{{IPA link|f}}&nbsp;{{IPA link|v}}
|{{IPA link|s}}&nbsp;{{IPA link|z}}
|{{IPA link|ʃ}}&nbsp;{{IPA link|ʒ}}
|{{IPA link|ç}}&nbsp;{{IPA link|ʝ}}
|{{IPA link|x}}&nbsp;({{IPA link|ɣ}})
|-
! [[nasal consonant|Nasal]]
|{{IPA link|m}}
|{{IPA link|n}}
|
|{{IPA link|ɲ}}
|({{IPA link|ŋ}})
|-
! [[lateral consonant|Lateral]]
|
|{{IPA link|l}}
|
|{{IPA link|ʎ}}
|
|-
! [[trill consonant|Trill]]
|
|{{IPA link|r}}
|
|
|
|-
! [[Approximant]]
|({{IPA link|w}})
|
|
|({{IPA link|j}})
|
|}

* Unlike the standard [[Croatian language|Croatian]] [[lect]]s, there are no [[alveolo-palatal consonant|alveolo-palatal]] phonemes {{IPA|/t͡ɕ/}} and {{IPA|/d͡ʑ/}} (ć and đ), as they have largely merged with the palato-alveolar {{IPA|/t͡ʃ/}} and {{IPA|/d͡ʒ/}} (č and dž).<ref name=DMAC/> However, in cases where standard Croatian {{IPA|/t͡ɕ/}} reflects Proto-Slavic *jt, the corresponding phoneme in Molise Slavic is instead {{IPA|/c/}}.<ref name=DMAC/> In some cases standard {{IPA|/d͡ʑ/}} corresponds to Molise {{IPA|/ʝ/}}, as in [[Chakavian]].<ref name=DMAC/>
* {{IPA|/f/}}, {{IPA|/d͡z/}}, {{IPA|/d͡ʒ/}}, {{IPA|/c/}}, {{IPA|/ɟ/}}, and {{IPA|/ç/}} appear mostly in loanwords.<ref name=DMAC/>
* The velar fricative {{IPA|[ɣ]}} is inserted by some speakers between vowels to eliminate [[Hiatus (linguistics)|hiatus]]; some speakers use {{IPA|[v]}} in this role instead.<ref name=DMAC/> Rarely, {{IPA|[ɣ]}} can appear as an intervocalic allophone of {{IPA|/x/}}.<ref name=DMAC/>
* {{IPA|/n/}} is realized as {{IPA|[ŋ]}} before velar plosives.<ref name=DMAC/>
* A prothetic {{IPA|[j]}} is regularly inserted before initial {{IPA|/i/}}.<ref name=DMAC/>
* A {{IPA|/u̥/}} adjacent to a vowel is realized as a {{IPA|[w]}}.<ref name=DMAC/> Etymologically, it derives from a {{IPA|/v/}} next to an [[Plosive#Voice|unvoiced plosive]]; thus standard Croatian {{IPA|[stvâːr]}} (‘thing’) corresponds to Molise Slavic {{IPA|[ˈstwaːrḁ]}}.<ref name=DMAC/>
* Some speakers realize {{IPA|/ʎ/}} as {{IPA|[j]}}, {{IPA|/ɡʎ/}} as {{IPA|[ɟ]}}, and {{IPA|/kʎ/}} as {{IPA|[c]}}.<ref name=DMAC/>
* After a short vowel, the following consonant may optionally be geminated.<ref name=DMAC/>

===Vowels===
The vocalic system of Molise Slavic has seven distinct vowel qualities, as follows:<ref name=DMAC/>

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Central vowel|Central]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
|{{IPA link|i}}
|
|{{IPA link|u}}
|-
|{{IPA link|e}}
|
|{{IPA link|o}}
|-
|{{IPA link|ɛ}}
|
|{{IPA link|ɔ}}
|-
|
|{{IPA link|a}}
|
|}
* Besides these vowels, there is also a [[Syllabic consonant|syllabic]] {{IPA|/r̩/}} that functions as a vowel.<ref name=DMAC/> Some speakers insert an epenthetic {{IPA|[ɛ]}} before the {{IPA|/r/}} instead of pronouncing the {{IPA|/r/}} as syllabic.<ref name=DMAC/>
* There are two tones, rising and falling. A falling tone can be found only on single stressed initial syllables. A rising tone spreads over two equally-stressed syllables (or one stressed followed by one more stressed), except in cases where the second syllable has been lost. If the second syllable is long, some speakers only stress the second syllable.<ref name=DMAC/>
* An opposition exists between long and short vowels, but only in stressed position. Vowels with a falling tone are sometimes long, and the second vowel with a rising tone is always long unless it is word-final, in which case the first vowel with a rising tone is long instead if the second vowel is voiceless or lost. Vowel length is only distinctive with falling tone; with rising tone, it is entirely predictable.<ref name=DMAC/>
* {{IPA|/ɛ/}} and {{IPA|/ɔ/}} are found almost exclusively in loanwords.<ref name=DMAC/>
* {{IPA|[ɪ]}} appears as an allophone of unstressed {{IPA|/i/}}, especially next to nasal consonants.<ref name=DMAC/>
* In posttonic position, there is a tendency to lower vowels, so that both {{IPA|/o/}} and {{IPA|/e/}} merge with {{IPA|/a/}} (though some conservative speakers do not have this merger). {{IPA|/i/}} and {{IPA|/u/}} are also often lowered to {{IPA|[ɪ]}} and {{IPA|[ʊ]}}, but remain distinct.<ref name=DMAC/>
* Etymologically short vowels become [[voiceless]] in final position. Among younger speakers they are often dropped altogether. {{IPA|/i̥/}} is almost universally dropped, {{IPA|/ḁ/}} (and {{IPA|/e̥/}} and {{IPA|/o̥/}}, which have largely merged with {{IPA|/ḁ/}}) less commonly, and {{IPA|/u̥/}} is retained by almost everyone in all positions.<ref name=DMAC/>