Editing Chewa language (section)

===Vowels===

Chewa has five short vowel sounds: a, ɛ, i, ɔ, u; these are written ''a'', ''e'', ''i'', ''o'', ''u''. Long vowels are sometimes found, e.g. ''áákúlu'' 'big' (class 2), ''kufúula'' 'to shout'.<ref>Atkins (1950), p.201.</ref> When a word comes at the end of a phrase, its penultimate vowel tends to be lengthened,<ref>Downing & Mtenje (2017), pp. 228–9.</ref> except for non-Chewa names and words, such as {{lang|ny|Muthárika}} or {{lang|ny|ófesi}}, in which the penultimate vowel always remains short.{{citation needed|date=January 2016}} The added 'u' or 'i' in borrowed words such as {{lang|ny|láputopu}} 'laptop' or {{lang|ny|íntaneti}} 'internet' tends to be very short.<ref>Downing & Mtenje (2017), p. 95: "A high vowel is very short and not very vowel-like, so inserting one leads to minimal deviation from the pronunciation of the word in the source language."</ref>
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+Chewa Vowels
!
![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Central vowel|Central]]
![[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
![[Close vowel|Close]]
|{{IPA link|i}}, ({{IPA|iː}})
|
|{{IPA link|u}}, ({{IPA|uː}})
|-
![[Open-mid vowel|Open-mid]]
|{{IPA link|ɛ}}, ({{IPA|ɛː}})
|
|{{IPA link|ɔ}}, ({{IPA|ɔː}})
|-
![[Open vowel|Open]]
|
|{{IPA link|a}}, ({{IPA|aː}})
|
|}

Vowels are generally lengthened in the penultimate syllable of a prosodic phrase.<ref>Downing & Mtenje (2017), p. 12.</ref>