Editing Moksha language (section)

== Phonology ==
===Vowels===
There are eight vowels with limited [[allophony]] and reduction of unstressed vowels.
Moksha has lost the original Uralic system of [[vowel harmony]] but maintains consonant-vowel harmony (palatalized consonants go with front vowels, non-palatalized with non-front).

{| class="wikitable"
!
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Central vowel|Central]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|- align="center"
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| {{IPAlink|i}}<br>{{angbr|и}}
| {{IPAlink|ɨ}}<br>{{angbr|ы}}
| {{IPAlink|u}}<br>{{angbr|у, ю}}
|- align="center"
! [[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| {{IPAlink|e}}<br>{{angbr|е, э}}
| {{IPAlink|ə}}<br>{{angbr|а, о, е}}
| {{IPAlink|o}}<br>{{angbr|о}}
|- align="center"
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
| {{IPAlink|æ}}<br>{{angbr|я, э, е}}
|
|{{IPAlink|ɑ}}<br>{{angbr|а}}
|}

There are some restrictions for the occurrence of vowels within a word:<ref>[[#Feoktistov 1993|Feoktistov 1993]], p. 182.</ref>
# {{IPA|[ɨ]}} is an allophone of the phoneme {{IPA|/i/}} after phonemically non-palatalized ("hard") consonants.<ref>[[#Feoktistov 1966|Feoktistov 1966]], p. 200.</ref>
# {{IPA|/e/}} does not occur after non-palatalized consonants, only after their palatalized ("soft") counterparts.
# {{IPA|/a/}} and {{IPA|/æ/}} do not fully contrast after phonemically palatalized or non-palatalized consonants.{{clarify|reason=What happens between palatalized and peripheral consonants?|date=June 2015}}
#* Similar to {{IPA|/e/}}, {{IPA|/æ/}} does not occur after non-palatalized consonants either, only after their palatalized counterparts.
#* After palatalized consonants, {{IPA|/æ/}} occurs at the end of words, and when followed by another palatalized consonant.
#* {{IPA|/a/}} after palatalized consonants occurs only before non-palatalized consonants, i.e. in the environment {{IPA|/CʲaC/}}.
# The mid vowels' occurrence varies by the position within the word:
#* In native words, {{IPA|/e, o/}} are rare in the second syllable, but common in borrowings from e.g. Russian.
#* {{IPA|/e, o/}} are never found in the third and following syllables, where only {{IPA|/ə/}} occurs.
#* {{IPA|/e/}} at the end of words is only found in one-syllable words (e.g. ''ве'' {{IPA|/ve/}} "night", ''пе'' {{IPA|/pe/}} "end"). In longer words, word-final {{angbr|е}} always stands for {{IPA|/æ/}} (e.g. ''веле'' {{IPA|/velʲæ/}} "village", ''пильге'' {{IPA|/pilʲɡæ/}} "foot, leg").<ref>[[#Feoktistov 1966|Feoktistov 1966]], p. 200–201.</ref>

Unstressed {{IPA|/ɑ/}} and {{IPA|/æ/}} are slightly reduced and shortened {{IPA|[ɑ̆]}} and {{IPA|[æ̆]}} respectively.

===Consonants===
There are 33 consonants in Moksha.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|- style="font-size: 90%;"
! rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" | [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! colspan="4" | [[Dental consonant|Dental]]
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" | [[Postalveolar consonant|Post-<br>alveolar]]
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" | [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" | [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
|-
! colspan="2" | <small>plain</small>
! colspan="2" | <small>[[Palatalization (phonetics)|palat.]]</small>
|-
! [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| width="20px" style="border-right: 0;" | || width="20px" style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA|{{IPAlink|m}}}}<br />{{angbr|м}}
| width="20px" style="border-right: 0;" | || width="20px" style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA|{{IPAlink|n}}}}<br />{{angbr|н}}
| width="20px" style="border-right: 0;" | || width="20px" style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPAlink|nʲ}}<br />{{angbr|нь}}
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
|-
! [[Stop consonant|Stop]]
| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA|{{IPAlink|p}}}}<br />{{angbr|п}}|| style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA|{{IPAlink|b}}}}<br />{{angbr|б}}
| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA|{{IPAlink|t}}}}<br />{{angbr|т}}|| style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA|{{IPAlink|d}}}}<br />{{angbr|д}}
| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPAlink|tʲ}}<br />{{angbr|ть}}|| style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPAlink|dʲ}}<br />{{angbr|дь}}
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
| width="20px" style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA|{{IPAlink|k}}}}<br />{{angbr|к}}|| width="20px" style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA|{{IPAlink|ɡ}}}}<br />{{angbr|г}}
|-
! [[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
| colspan="2" |
| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA|{{IPAlink|ts}}}}<br />{{angbr|ц}}|| style="border-left: 0;" |
| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPAlink|tsʲ}}<br />{{angbr|ць}}|| style="border-left: 0;" |
| width="20px" style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA|{{IPAlink|tɕ}}}}<br />{{angbr|ч}}|| width="20px" style="border-left: 0;" |
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
|-
! [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA|{{IPAlink|f}}}}<br />{{angbr|ф}}|| style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA|{{IPAlink|v}}}}<br />{{angbr|в}}
| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA|{{IPAlink|s}}}}<br />{{angbr|с}}|| style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA|{{IPAlink|z}}}}<br />{{angbr|з}}
| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPAlink|sʲ}}<br />{{angbr|сь}}|| style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPAlink|zʲ}}<br />{{angbr|зь}}
| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA|{{IPAlink|ʂ}}}}~{{IPAlink|ʃ}}<br />{{angbr|ш}}|| style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA|{{IPAlink|ʐ}}~{{IPAlink|ʒ}}}}<br />{{angbr|ж}}
| width="20px" style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA|{{IPAlink|ç}}}}<br />{{angbr|йх}}|| width="20px" style="border-left: 0;" |
| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA|{{IPAlink|x}}}}<br />{{angbr|х}}|| style="border-left: 0;" |
|-
! [[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
| colspan="2" |
| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA|{{IPAlink|l̥}}}}<br />{{angbr|лх}}|| style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA|{{IPAlink|l}}}}<br />{{angbr|л}}
| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPAlink|l̥ʲ}}<br />{{angbr|льх}}|| style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA|lʲ}}<br />{{angbr|ль}}
| colspan="2" |
| style="border-right: 0;" | || style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA|{{IPAlink|j}}}}<br />{{angbr|й}}
| colspan="2" |
|-
! [[Trill consonant|Trill]]
| colspan="2" |
| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA|{{IPAlink|r̥}}}}<br />{{angbr|рх}}|| style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA|{{IPAlink|r}}}}<br />{{angbr|р}}
| style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA|r̥ʲ}}<br />{{angbr|рьх}}|| style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPAlink|rʲ}}<br />{{angbr|рь}}
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
|}

{{IPA|/ç/}} is realized as a sibilant {{IPA|[ɕ]}} before the plural suffix {{IPA|/-t⁽ʲ⁾/}} in south-east dialects.<ref>[[#Feoktistov 1966|Feoktistov 1966]], p. 220.</ref>

[[Palatalization (phonetics)|Palatalization]], characteristic of [[Uralic languages]], is contrastive only for [[dental consonant]]s, which can be either "soft" or " hard". In Moksha Cyrillic alphabet the palatalization is designated like in Russian: either by a "soft sign" {{angbr|ь}} after a "soft" consonant or by writing "soft" vowels {{angbr|е, ё, и, ю, я}} after a "soft" consonant. In scientific transliteration the acute accent or apostrophe are used.

All other consonants have palatalized [[allophone]]s before the [[front vowel]]s {{IPA|/æ, i, e/}} as well. The [[Voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate|alveolo-palatal affricate]] {{IPA|/tɕ/}} lacks non-palatalized counterpart, while postalveolar fricatives {{IPA|/ʂ~ʃ, ʐ~ʒ/}} lack palatalized counterparts.

====Devoicing====
Unusually for a Uralic language, there is also a series of voiceless [[liquid consonants]]: {{IPA|/l̥ , l̥ʲ, r̥ , r̥ʲ/}} {{angbr|ʀ, ʀ́, ʟ, ʟ́}}. These have arisen from Proto-Mordvinic consonant clusters of a sonorant followed by a voiceless stop or affricate: {{IPA|*p, *t, *tʲ, *ts⁽ʲ⁾, *k}}.

Before certain inflectional and derivational endings, devoicing continues to exist as a [[phonological process]] in Moksha. This affects all other voiced consonants as well, including the [[Nasal consonant|nasal]] consonants and [[semivowel]]s. No voiceless nasals are however found in Moksha: the devoicing of nasals produces voiceless oral stops. Altogether the following devoicing processes apply:

{| class="wikitable" style="width:400px"
|- align="center"
! Plain
| {{IPA|b}} || {{IPA|m}} || {{IPA|d}} || {{IPA|n}} || {{IPA|dʲ}} || {{IPA|nʲ}} || {{IPA|ɡ}}
| {{IPA|l}} || {{IPA|lʲ}} || {{IPA|r}} || {{IPA|rʲ}}
| {{IPA|v}} || {{IPA|z}} || {{IPA|zʲ}} || {{IPA|ʒ}} || {{IPA|j}}
|- align="center"
! Devoiced
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|p}} || colspan="2" | {{IPA|t}} || colspan="2" | {{IPA|tʲ}} || {{IPA|k}}
| {{IPA|l̥}} || {{IPA|l̥ʲ}} || {{IPA|r̥}} || {{IPA|r̥ʲ}}
| {{IPA|f}} || {{IPA|s}} || {{IPA|sʲ}} || {{IPA|ʃ}} || {{IPA|ç}}
|}

For example, before the nominative plural {{IPA|/-t⁽ʲ⁾/}}:
* ''кал'' {{IPA|/kal/}} "fish" – ''калхт'' {{IPA|/kal̥t/}} "fish"
* ''лем'' {{IPA|/lʲem/}} "name" – ''лепть'' {{IPA|/lʲeptʲ/}} "names"
* ''марь'' {{IPA|/marʲ/}} "apple" – ''марьхть'' {{IPA|/mar̥ʲtʲ/}} "apples"
Devoicing is, however, morphological rather than phonological, due to the loss of earlier voiceless stops from some consonant clusters, and due to the creation of new consonant clusters of voiced liquid + voiceless stop. Compare the following oppositions:
* ''калне'' {{IPA|/kalnʲæ/}} "little fish" – ''калхне'' {{IPA|/kal̥nʲæ/}} (< {{IPA|*kal-tʲ-nʲæ}}) "these fish"
* ''марьне'' {{IPA|/marʲnʲæ/}} "my apples" – ''марьхне'' {{IPA|/mar̥ʲnʲæ/}} ( < {{IPA|*marʲ-tʲ-nʲæ}}) "these apples"
* ''кундайне'' {{IPA|/kunˈdajnʲæ/}} "I caught it" – ''кундайхне'' {{IPA|/kunˈdaçnʲæ/}} ( < {{IPA|*kunˈdaj-tʲ-nʲæ}}) "these catchers"

===Stress===
Non-high vowels are inherently longer than high vowels {{IPA|/i, u, ə/}} and tend to draw the stress. If a high vowel appears in the first syllable which follow the syllable with non-high vowels (especially {{IPA|/a/}} and {{IPA|/æ/}}), then the stress moves to that second or third syllable. If all the vowels of a word are either non-high or high, then the stress falls on the first syllable.{{sfn|Raun|1988|p=100}}

Stressed vowels are longer than unstressed ones in the same position like in Russian. Unstressed vowels undergo some degree of [[vowel reduction]].