Editing Mari language (section)

== Phonology ==
=== Vowels ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|-
! rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" | [[Front vowel|Front]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Central vowel|Central]]
! colspan="2" | [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! <small>unrounded</small>
! <small>[[roundedness|rounded]]</small>
! <small>unrounded</small>
! <small>rounded</small>
|-
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| /{{IPAlink|i}}/<br>'''и/i'''
| /{{IPAlink|y}}/<br>'''ӱ/ü'''
|
|
| /{{IPAlink|u}}/<br>'''у/u'''
|-
! [[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| /{{IPAlink|e}}/<br>'''е/e'''
| /{{IPAlink|ø}}/<br>'''ӧ/ö'''
| /{{IPAlink|ə}}/, /{{IPAlink|ə|ə̟}}/<sup>1</sup><br>'''ы/y, ӹ/ÿ'''
|
| /{{IPAlink|o}}/<br>'''о/o'''
|-
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
| /{{IPAlink|æ}}/<sup>1</sup><br>'''ӓ/ä'''
|
|
| /{{IPAlink|ɑ}}/<br>'''а/a'''
|
|}
# Only in Hill Mari
The schwa {{IPA|/ə/}} and its fronted counterpart are usually transcribed in [[Finno-Ugric transcription]] as ''ə̑'' (reduced mid unrounded vowel) and ''ə'' (reduced front unrounded vowel) respectively. The former has sometimes been transcribed in IPA as {{IPAslink|ɤ}}, but phonetically the vowel is most strongly distinguished by its short duration and reduced quality. Descriptions vary on the degree of backness and labialization.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Dennis|last=Estill|year=2012|title=Revising the Meadow Mari vocalism|journal=Linguistica Uralica|volume=XLVIII/3|url=http://www.kirj.ee/20975/?tpl=1061&c_tpl=1064}}</ref>

The mid vowels {{IPA|/e/}}, {{IPA|/ø/}}, {{IPA|/o/}} have more reduced allophones {{IPA|[e̽]}}, {{IPA|[ø̽]}}, {{IPA|[o̽]}} at the end of a word.

==== Word prosody ====
Stress is not phonemic in Mari, but a dynamic stress system is exhibited phonetically, the stressed syllable being higher in pitch and amplitude and greater in length than an unstressed syllable. Generally, there is one prominent syllable per word and prominence may be found in any syllable of the word. Post- and prefixes behave as [[clitic]]s, i.e., they do not have their own stress. For example, пӧ́рт (''pört'', "house") гыч (''gəč'', "out of") ({{IPA|[ˈpørt ɣɤt͡ʃ]}}); or му́ро (''muro'', "song") дене (''dene'', "with") ({{IPA|[ˈmuro ðene]}}).

=== Consonants ===
Consonants are shown in Cyrillic, Latin, and the [[help:IPA|IPA]]:
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|-
! rowspan="2" colspan="2" |
! rowspan="2" | [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Dental consonant|Dental]]
! colspan="2" | [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Postalveolar consonant|Post-<br>alveolar]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
|- class=small
! plain
! [[Palatalization (phonetics)|pal.]]
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| /{{IPAlink|m}}/<br>'''м/m'''
|
| /{{IPAlink|n}}/<br>'''н/n'''
|
|
| /{{IPAlink|ɲ}}/<br>'''н(ь)/n(’)'''<sup>2</sup>
| /{{IPAlink|ŋ}}/<br>'''ҥ'''<sup>3</sup>'''/ŋ'''
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Plosive consonant|Plosive]]
! <small>[[voicelessness|voiceless]]</small>
| /{{IPAlink|p}}/<br>'''п/p'''
|
| /{{IPAlink|t}}/<br>'''т/t'''
| /{{IPAlink|tʲ}}/<sup>1</sup><br>'''т(ь)/t'[ť]'''<sup>2</sup>
|
|
| /{{IPAlink|k}}/<br>'''к/k'''
|-
! <small>[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
| /{{IPAlink|b}}/<br>'''б/b'''
|
| /{{IPAlink|d}}/<br>'''д/d'''
|
|
|
| /{{IPAlink|ɡ}}/<br>'''г/g'''
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
|
|
| /{{IPAlink|ts}}/<sup>1</sup><br>'''ц/c'''
|
| /{{IPAlink|tʃ}}/<br>'''ч/č'''
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
! <small>voiceless</small>
| /{{IPAlink|f}}/<sup>1</sup><br>'''ф/f'''
|
| /{{IPAlink|s}}/<br>'''с/s'''
|
| /{{IPAlink|ʃ}}/<br>'''ш/š'''
|
| /{{IPAlink|x}}/<sup>1</sup><br>'''х/h'''
|-
! <small>voiced</small>
| ({{IPAlink|β}})<sup>4</sup><br>'''в/v'''
| ({{IPAlink|ð}})<sup>4</sup><br>'''д/d'''
| /{{IPAlink|z}}/<br>'''з/z'''
|
| /{{IPAlink|ʒ}}/<br>'''ж/ž'''
|
| ({{IPAlink|ɣ}})<sup>4</sup><br>'''г/g'''
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Rhotic consonant|Rhotic]]
|
|
| /{{IPAlink|r}}/ (or /{{IPAlink|ɾ}}/)<br>'''р/r'''
|
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
! <small>central</small>
|
|
|
|
|
| /{{IPAlink|j}}/<br>'''й/j'''
|
|-
! <small>[[Lateral consonant|lateral]]</small>
|
|
| /{{IPAlink|l}}/<br>'''л/l'''
|
|
| /{{IPAlink|ʎ}}/<br>'''л(ь)/l(ľ)'''<sup>2</sup>
|
|}
# Only in Russian loanwords, in Hill Mari also onomatopoeia and Chuvashian loanwords.
# Palatalisation is marked in different ways. A {{angle bracket|у}} following a palatalised consonant is written as {{angle bracket|ю}}, and {{angle bracket|а}} following a palatalised consonant is written as {{angle bracket|я}}. If the vowel following a palatalised consonant is an е or an и, palatalisation is not marked at all. In other cases, the [[soft sign]] ь is used to mark palatalisation.
# The modified Cyrillic letter for the velar nasal ({{IPA|ŋ}}) combines the Cyrillic letter {{angle bracket|Н н}} with and {{angle bracket|Г г}}, where the rightmost post of Н is conflated with the vertical post of {{angle bracket|Г}}: {{angle bracket|Ҥ, ҥ}}. Although Hill Mari has this sound too, this character is only used in Meadow Mari.
# In Russian loanwords and after nasals, {{IPA|/b d ɡ/}} are voiced stops. Word-finally and before a consonant, there is free variation between voiced fricatives ({{IPA|[β ð ɣ]}}) and voiceless stops {{IPA|[p t k]}}.

=== Phonological processes ===

Like several other Uralic languages, Mari has [[vowel harmony]]. In addition to front/back harmony, Mari also features round/unround harmony. If the stressed vowel in the word is [[roundedness|rounded]], then the suffix will contain a rounded vowel: for example, кӱтӱ́ ([kyˈty] 'herd') becomes кӱтӱ́штӧ ([kyˈtyʃtø], 'in the herd'); if the stressed vowel is unrounded, then the suffix will contain an unrounded vowel: ки́д ([kid], 'hand') becomes ки́дыште ([ˈkidəʃte], 'in the hand'). If the stressed vowel is back, then the suffix will end in a back vowel: агу́р ([aˈgur], 'whirlpool') becomes агу́рышто ([aˈgurəʃto], 'in the whirlpool').<ref>Зорина, Крылова, Якимова 1990: 9</ref>