Editing Cebuano language (section)

===Vowels===
Below is the vowel system of Cebuano with their corresponding letter representation in angular brackets:<ref name="Endriga 2010"/><ref name="phon">{{cite web|url=http://dila.ph/cebuano%20phonetics%20and%20orthography.pdf|title=Cebuano Phonetics and Orthography|publisher=Dila|access-date=16 September 2016}}</ref><ref name="awl">{{Cite web |url=http://aboutworldlanguages.com/cebuano |title=Cebuano |last=Thompson |first=Irene |date=11 July 2013 |publisher=About World Languages |access-date=16 September 2016}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|+caption | ''' Standard Cebuano vowel phonemes '''
|- style="text-align:center;"
!
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Central vowel|Central]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|- style="text-align:center;"
![[Close vowel|Close]]
| {{IPA link|i}}&nbsp;{{angbr|i}}
|
| {{IPA link|u}}&nbsp;{{angbr|u}}
|- style="text-align:center;"
! [[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| {{IPA link|ɛ}}&nbsp;{{angbr|e}}
|
| {{IPA link|o}}&nbsp;{{angbr|o}}
|- style="text-align:center;"
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
|
| {{IPA link|a}}&nbsp;{{angbr|a}}
|
|}
* {{IPA|/a/}} an [[open front unrounded vowel]] similar to English "f'''a'''ther"
* {{IPA|/ɛ/}} an [[open-mid front unrounded vowel]] similar to English "b'''e'''d"
* {{IPA|/i/}} a [[close front unrounded vowel]] similar to English "mach'''i'''ne"
* {{IPA|/o/}} a [[close-mid back rounded vowel]] similar to English "f'''o'''rty"
* {{IPA|/u/}} a [[close back rounded vowel]] similar to English "fl'''u'''te"

Sometimes, {{angbr|a}} may also be pronounced as the [[open-mid back unrounded vowel]] {{IPA|[ʌ]}} (as in English "g'''u'''t"); {{angbr|e}} or {{angbr|i}} as the [[near-close near-front unrounded vowel]] {{IPA|[ɪ]}} (as in English "b'''i'''t"); and {{angbr|o}} or {{angbr|u}} as the [[open-mid back rounded vowel]] {{IPA|[ɔ]}} (as in English "th'''ou'''ght") or the [[near-close near-back rounded vowel]] {{IPA|[ʊ]}} (as in English "h'''oo'''k").<ref name="Endriga 2010"/>

During the precolonial and [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] period, Cebuano had only three vowel phonemes: {{IPA|/a/}}, {{IPA|/i/}} and {{IPA|/u/}}. This was later expanded to five vowels with the introduction of Spanish. As a consequence, the vowels {{angbr|o}} or {{angbr|u}}, as well as {{angbr|e}} or {{angbr|i}}, are still mostly [[allophone]]s. They can be freely switched with each other without losing their meaning ([[free variation]]), though it may sound strange to a native listener, depending on their dialect. The vowel {{IPA|/a/}} can be pronounced as either {{IPA|[a]}} or {{IPA|[ʌ]}}, or as {{IPA|[ɔ]}} immediately after the consonant {{IPA|/w/}}. [[Loanword]]s, however, are usually more conservative in their orthography and pronunciation (e.g. ''dyip'', "[[jeepney]]" from English "jeep", will never be written or spoken as ''dyep'').<ref name="Endriga 2010"/><ref name="h">{{Cite book |title=Hispanisation: The Impact of Spanish on the Lexicon and Grammar of the Indigenous Languages of Austronesia and the Americas |last=Steinkrüger |first=Patrick O. |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |year=2008 |isbn=9783110207231 |editor-last=Stolz |editor-first=Thomas |pages=203–236 |chapter=Hispanisation processes in the Philippines |editor-last2=Bakker |editor-first2=Dik |editor-last3=Palomo |editor-first3=Rosa Salas |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4kacyicU4BgC&pg=PA203}}</ref>

There are only four [[diphthongs]], since {{angbr|o}} and {{angbr|u}} are allophones. These are {{IPA|/aj/}}, {{IPA|/uj/}}, {{IPA|/aw/}}, and {{IPA|/iw/}}.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.mustgo.com/worldlanguages/cebuano/ | title=Cebuano Language{{dash}}Structure, Writing and Alphabet}}</ref>