Editing Washo language (section)

===Vowels===
There are six distinct vowel qualities found in the Washo language, each of which occurs long and short. The sound quality of a vowel is dependent upon their length and the consonant they precede, as well as the stress put on the vowel.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vowels |url=http://washo.uchicago.edu/vowels.php |website=The Washo Project}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+Washo vowels<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jacobsen |first=William H. Jr. |url=http://home.uchicago.edu/~aclyu/papers/BeginningWasho.pdf |title=Beginning Washo |date=December 1996 |publisher=Nevada State Museum |editor-last=Tuohy |editor-first=Donald R. |series=Nevada State Museum Occasional Papers |volume=5 |location=Carson City, NV |pages=1-6}}</ref>
! Orthography !! IPA !! Example
|-
| '''á''' or '''a'''<br />'''á꞉''' or '''a꞉'''
| {{IPAslink|a}}<br />{{IPA|/aː/}}
| {{lang|was|lakꞌ'''a'''ʔ}} 'one'<br />{{lang|was|d'''á꞉'''bal}} 'sagebrush'
|-
| '''é''' or '''e'''<br />'''é꞉''' or '''e꞉'''
| {{IPAslink|e}}<br />{{IPA|/eː/}}
| {{lang|was|d'''e'''m'''é'''m'''e'''w}} 'his rib'<br />{{lang|was|m'''é꞉'''hu}} 'boy'
|-
| '''í''' or '''i'''<br />'''í꞉''' or '''i꞉'''
| {{IPAslink|i}}<br />{{IPA|/iː/}}
| {{lang|was|d'''i'''púlul}} 'my car'<br />{{lang|was|s'''í꞉'''su}} 'bird'
|-
| '''ó''' or '''o'''<br />'''ó꞉''' or '''o꞉'''
| {{IPAslink|o}}<br />{{IPA|/oː/}}
| {{lang|was|nanh'''ó'''lwa}} 'golden currant'<br />{{lang|was|ćid'''ó꞉'''dokhu}} 'robin'
|-
| '''ú''' or '''u'''<br />'''ú꞉''' or '''u꞉'''
| {{IPAslink|u}}<br />{{IPA|/uː/}}
| {{lang|was|g'''u'''kú꞉}} 'owl'<br />{{lang|was|š'''ú꞉'''gil}} 'sunflower'
|-
| '''ɨ'''<br />'''ɨ:'''
| {{IPAslink|ɨ}}<br />{{IPA|/ɨː/}}
| {{lang|was|ć'''ɨ'''k'''ɨ'''}} (''spider'')
|-
| '''ay'''
|
| {{lang|was|m'''áy'''ŋa}} (''fawn'')
|-
| '''ey'''
|
| {{lang|was|b'''éy'''u}} (''to pay''; ''younger brother'' [used in context])
|}

Vowels marked with the [[acute accent]] ( ´ ) are pronounced with stress, such as in the Washo {{lang|was|ćigábut}} (summer).

In Washo, vowels can have either long or short length qualities; the longer quality is noted by appending a [[Colon (letter)|colon]] {{angle bracket|꞉}} to the vowel, as in the above example {{lang|was|'''míši milí꞉giyi'''}}. Vowels with such a mark are usually pronounced for twice the normal length. This can be seen in the difference between the words {{lang|was|móko}} (shoes) {{lang|was|mó꞉ko}} (knee). However, vowels pronounced this way may not always be followed by a colon.

Jacobsen described in detail various vowel alternations that distinguished the Washo speech communities.<ref>{{Cite conference |last=Jacobsen |first=William H. Jr. |year=1978 |editor-last=Tuohy |editor-first=Donald R. |title=Washo Internal Diversity and External Relations |series=Ballena Press Publications in Archaeology, Ethnology and History |location=Socorro, NM |volume=11 |pages=115-147 |book-title=Selected Papers from the 14th Great Basin Anthropological Conference}}</ref>