Editing Muscogee language (section)

===Vowels===
The vowel phonemes of Muscogee are as follows:<ref name="Martin_a" />

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
!
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Central vowel|Central]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| {{IPAlink|i}}   {{IPAlink|iː}}
|
|
|-
! [[Close-mid vowel|Close-mid]]
|
|
| {{IPAlink|o}}   {{IPAlink|oː}}
|-
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
|
| {{IPAlink|ɑ}}   {{IPAlink|ɑː}}
|
|}

There are three short vowels {{IPA|/i ɑ o/}} and three long vowels {{IPA|/iː ɑː oː/}}. There are also the nasal vowels {{IPA|/ĩ ɑ̃ õ ĩː ɑ̃ː õː/}} (in the linguistic orthography, they are often written with an [[ogonek]] under them or a following superscript "n"). Most occurrences of nasal vowels are the result of nasal assimilation or the nasalizing grade, but there are some forms that show contrast between oral and nasal vowels:<ref name="Martin_c">Martin, 2011, p. 168-169</ref>
:{|
|''p'''ó'''-ɬki''
|
|'our father'
|-
|''op'''ó<sup>n</sup>'''ɬko''
|
|'cutworm'
|}

====Short vowels====
The three short vowels {{IPA|/i ɑ o/}} can be realized as the lax and centralized ({{IPA|[ɪ ə ʊ]}}) when a neighboring consonant is [[coronal consonant|coronal]] or in closed syllables. However, {{IPA|/ɑ/}} will generally not centralize when it is followed by {{IPA|/h/}} or {{IPA|/k/}} in the same syllable, and {{IPA|/o/}} will generally remain noncentral if it is word-final.<ref name="Martin_b" /> Initial vowels can be deleted in Muscogee, mostly applying to the vowel {{IPA|/i/}}. The deletion will affect the pitch of the following syllable by creating a higher-than-expected pitch on the new initial syllable. Furthermore, initial vowel deletion in the case of single-morpheme, short words such as ''ifa'' 'dog' or ''icó'' 'deer' is impossible, as the shortest a Muscogee word can be is a one-syllable word ending in a long vowel (''fóː'' 'bee') or a two-syllable word ending with a short vowel (''ací'' 'corn').<ref>Martin, 2011, pp. 64, 72-23</ref>

====Long vowels====
There are three long vowels in Muscogee ({{IPA|/iː ɑː oː/}}), which are slightly longer than short vowels and are never centralized.

Long vowels are rarely followed by a sonorant in the same syllable. Therefore, when syllables are created (often from suffixation or contractions) in which a long vowel is followed by a sonorant, the vowel is shortened:<ref>Martin, 2011, p. 64–65</ref>
:{|
|''in-ɬa:m-itá''
|
|'to uncover, open'
|-
|''in-ɬam-k-itá''
|
|'to be uncovered, open'
|}

====Diphthongs====
In Muscogee, there are three diphthongs, generally realized as {{IPA|[əɪ ʊj əʊ]}}.<ref name=":0">Martin, 2011, p. 183</ref>

====Nasal vowels====
Both long and short vowels can be nasalized (the distinction between {{lang|mus|acces}} and {{lang|mus|ącces}} [[#Nonstandard orthography|below]]), but long nasal vowels are more common. Nasal vowels usually appear as a result of a contraction, as the result of a neighboring nasal consonant, or as the result of nasalizing grade, a grammatical [[ablaut]], which indicates intensification through lengthening and nasalization of a vowel ({{transliteration|mus|likoth-}} 'warm' with the nasalizing grade intensifies the word to {{lang|mus|likŏ:<sup>n</sup>th-os-i:}} 'nice and warm').<ref>Martin, 2011, pp. 53–54, 95</ref> Nasal vowels may also appear as part of a suffix that indicates a question ({{lang|mus|o:sk-ihá:<sup>n</sup>}} 'I wonder if it's raining').<ref name="Martin_c" />

====Tones====
There are three phonemic tones in Muscogee; they are generally unmarked except in the linguistic orthography: high (marked in the linguistic orthography with an [[acute accent]]: '''á''', etc.), low (unmarked: '''a''', etc.), and falling (marked with a [[circumflex]]: '''â''', etc.).