Editing Karaim language (section)

==Phonology==

===Consonant inventory===
{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
! colspan=2 | 
! scope="col" | [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! scope="col" | [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! scope="col" | [[Postalveolar consonant|Postalveolar]]
! scope="col" | [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! scope="col" | [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! scope="col" | [[Uvular consonant|Uvular]]
|-
! colspan=2 | [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}}
| {{IPA link|n}}
| 
| 
| 
| 
|-
! rowspan=2 | [[Plosive]]
! {{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| {{IPA link|p}}
| {{IPA link|t̪|t}}
| 
| 
| {{IPA link|k}}
| 
|-
! {{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
| {{IPA link|b}}
| {{IPA link|d̪|d}}
| 
| 
| {{IPA link|ɡ}}
| 
|-
! rowspan=2 | [[Fricative]]
! {{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| {{IPA link|f}}
| {{IPA link|s̪|s}}
| {{IPA link|ʃ}} {{grapheme|š}}
| 
| 
| {{IPA link|χ}} {{grapheme|ch}}
|-
! {{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
| {{IPA link|v}}
| {{IPA link|z̪|z}}
| {{IPA link|ʒ}} {{grapheme|ž}}
|
|
| {{IPA link|ʁ}} {{grapheme|h}}
|-
! colspan=2 | [[Approximant]]
| {{IPA link|w}} {{grapheme|u}}
| {{IPA link|r}}
| 
| {{IPA link|j}}
| 
| 
|-
|}

===Vowel inventory===
{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
|-
! rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" | [[Front vowel|Front]]
! colspan="2" | [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! {{small|unrounded}} !! {{small|rounded}}
! {{small|unrounded}} !! {{small|rounded}}
|-
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| {{IPA link|i}} || {{IPA link|y}} {{grapheme|ü}} || {{IPA link|ɯ}} {{grapheme|y}} || {{IPA link|u}}
|-
! [[Close-mid vowel|Mid]]
| {{IPA link|e}} || {{IPA link|ø}} {{grapheme|ö}} || || {{IPA link|o}}
|-
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
|
| || {{IPA link|ɑ}} {{grapheme|a}} ||
|}

===Phonotactics===
Trakai Karaim shows harmony in palatalization of consonants. Thus, in any given word, only palatalized or only non-palatalized consonants can be found.{{sfn|Németh|2003}} Palatalized consonants occur in the presence of front vowels, and non-palatalized consonants occur in the presence of back vowels. Similarly to most Turkic languages, virtually all of the consonants in Karaim exist in both a palatalized and a non-palatalized form, which may be further evidence of their genetic relationship.{{sfn|Hansson|2007}} However, care must be taken in assuming as much, because Karaim has been in contact with the [[Lipka Tatars|Lipka Tatar]] language in Lithuania for hundreds of years.

Karaim also exhibits vowel harmony, whereby suffix vowels harmonize for front or back quality with the vowels in the stem of a word.{{sfn|Zajaczkowski|1961}}