Editing Maithili language (section)

===Vowels===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" |[[Front vowel|Front]]
! colspan="2" |[[Central vowel|Central]]
! colspan="2" |[[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
!<small>short</small>
!<small>long</small>
!<small>short</small>
!<small>long</small>
!<small>short</small>
!<small>long</small>
|-
![[Close vowel|Close]]
| {{IPA link|ɪ}} {{grapheme|इ}}
| {{IPA link|iː}} {{grapheme|ई}}
|
|
| {{IPA link|ʊ}} {{grapheme|उ}}
| {{IPA link|uː}} {{grapheme|ऊ}}
|-
![[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| {{IPA link|e}} {{grapheme|ऎ}}
| {{IPA link|eː}} {{grapheme|ए}}
| {{IPA link|ə}}~{{IPA link|ɐ}} {{grapheme|अ}}
| {{IPA link|əː}} {{grapheme|अऽ}}
| {{IPA link|o}} {{grapheme|ऒ}}
| {{IPA link|oː}} {{grapheme|ओ}} 
|-
![[Open vowel|Open]]
| colspan="2" | {{IPA link|æ}}~{{IPA link|ɛ}} {{grapheme|ऍ}}
| {{IPA link|ä|a}} {{grapheme|ॴ}}
| {{IPA link|äː|aː}} {{grapheme|आ}}
| colspan="2" | {{IPA link|ɔ}} {{grapheme|अ꣱}}
|-
![[Diphthongs]]
| colspan="2" |əɪ̯ {{Grapheme|ऐ}} əe̯ {{grapheme|ꣾ}}
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |əʊ̯ {{Grapheme|औ}} əo̯ {{grapheme|ॵ}}
|}

*All vowels have [[Nasalised vowel|nasal]] counterparts, represented by "~" in IPA and ँ on the vowels, like आँ  ãː .
*All vowel sounds are realised as nasal when occurring before or after a [[nasal consonant]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Yadav |first=Ramawatar |title=A Reference Grammar of Maithili |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter |year=1996 |location=Berlin |pages=15–27}}</ref>
* Sounds eː and oː are often replaced by diphthongs əɪ̯ and əʊ̯.{{Citation needed|date=February 2022}}
*ɔ is replaced by ə in northern dialects and by o in southernmost dialects.
*There are three short vowels that were described by Grierson, but are not counted by modern grammarians. But they could be understood as syllable break: ॳ {{IPA|/ɘ̆/}},  इ {{IPA|/ɪ̆/}},  उ {{IPA|/ʊ̆/}} . Or as syllable break ऺ in Devanagari and "." in IPA.
* ꣾ is a Unicode letter in Devanagari, (IPA {{IPA|/əe̯/}}) which is not supported currently on several browsers and operating systems, along with its mātrā (vowel sign).
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File: Devanagari extended AY.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.5|[[Devanagari Extended]] AY vowel|link=Special:FilePath/Devanagari_extended_AY.jpg]] --><!-- Deleted image removed: [[File: Devanagari extended AY vowelsign.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.5|[[Devanagari Extended]] AY vowel sign]] -->

The following [[diphthongs]] are present:<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Maithili |url=http://lisindia.ciil.org/Maithili/Maithili.html |access-date=7 January 2023 |website=lisindia.ciil.org}}</ref>
: अय़(ꣾ) {{IPA|/əe̯/ ~ /ɛː/}} - अय़सन (ꣾ सन) {{IPA|/əe̯sən/ ~ /ɛːsɐn/}} 'like this'
: अव़(ॵ) {{IPA|/əo̯/ ~ /ɔː/}}- चव़मुख(चॏमुख) {{IPA|/tɕəo̯mʊkʰ/ ~ /tɕɔːmʊkʰ/}} 'four faced'
: अयॆ {{IPA|/əe̯/}} - अयॆलाः {{IPA|/əe̯laːh/}} 'came'
: अवॊ (अऒ) {{IPA|/əo̯/}} - अवॊताः {{IPA|/əo̯taːh/}} 'will come'
: आइ {{IPA|/aːi̯/}} - आइ {{IPA|/aːi̯/}} 'today'
: आउ {{IPA|/aːu̯/}} - आउ {{IPA|/aːu̯/}} 'come please'
: आयॆ (आऎ) {{IPA|/aːe̯/}} - आयॆल {{IPA|/aːe̯l/}} 'came'
: आवॊ (आऒ) {{IPA|/aːo̯/}} - आवॊब {{IPA|/aːo̯b/}} 'will come'
: यु (इउ) {{IPA|/iu̯/}} - घ्यु {{IPA|/ɡʱiu̯/}} 'ghee'
: यॆ (इऎ) {{IPA|/ie̯/}} - यॆः {{IPA|/ie̯h/}} 'only this'
: यॊ (इऒ) {{IPA|/io̯/}} - कह्यो {{IPA|/kəhio̯/}} 'any day'
: वि (उइ) {{IPA|/ui̯/}} - द्वि {{IPA|/dui̯/}} 'two'
: वॆ (उऎ) {{IPA|/ue̯/}} -  वॆ: {{IPA|/ue̯h/}} 'only that'

A peculiar type of phonetic change is recently taking place in Maithili by way of [[epenthesis]], i.e. backward transposition of final /i/ and /u/ in all sort of words.<ref name=":2" /> Thus:

Standard Colloquial - Common Pronunciation
: अछि {{IPA|/ətɕʰi/}} - अइछ {{IPA|/əitɕʰ/}} 'is'
: रवि {{IPA|/rəbi/}} - रइब {{IPA|/rəib/}} 'Sunday'
: मधु {{IPA|/mədʱu/}} - मउध {{IPA|/məudʱ/}} 'honey'
: बालु {{IPA|/ba:lu/}} - बाउल {{IPA|/ba:ul/}} 'sand'