View source for Geʽez

=== Vowels ===

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Geʽez vowels
|-
!&nbsp;!! [[Front vowel|Front]]&nbsp;!! [[Central vowel|Central]] !! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| /{{IPA link|i}}/ {{transliteration|sem|i}} || /{{IPA link|ɨ}}/ {{transliteration|sem|ə}} || /{{IPA link|u}}/ {{transliteration|sem|u}}
|-
! [[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| /{{IPA link|e}}/ {{transliteration|sem|e}} || || /{{IPA link|o}}/ {{transliteration|sem|o}}
|-
! [[Near-open vowel|Near-open]]
| colspan="2" | /{{IPA link|æ}} ~ {{IPA link|ɐ}}/{{efn|{{IPA|/æ/}} in the Amharic liturgical pronunciation,<ref>{{harvnb|Gragg|1997a|p=177}}: "/ä/ is low central front, higher and more forward than /a/, secondarily perhaps also shorter; approximates IPA {{IPA|[æ]}}."</ref> or {{IPA|/ɐ/}}<ref>{{harvnb|Lambdin|1978|p=3}}: "a [æ, ä]"</ref> (as in [[Tigrinya language|Tigrinya]]).}} {{transliteration|sem|a}} ||
|-
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
| || /{{IPA link|a}} ~ {{IPA link|ɑ}}/{{efn|According to Lambdin.<ref>{{harvnb|Lambdin|1978|p=3}}: "ā [a, ɑ]"</ref>}} {{transliteration|sem|ā}} ||
|}
{{notelist}}

Historically, {{IPA|/ɨ/}} has a basic correspondence with Proto-Semitic short {{transliteration|sem|*i}} and {{transliteration|sem|*u}}, {{IPA|/æ ~ ɐ/}} with short {{transliteration|sem|*a}}, the vowels {{IPA|/i, u, a/}} with Proto-Semitic long {{transliteration|sem|*ī, *ū, *ā}} respectively, and {{IPA|/e, o/}} with the Proto-Semitic diphthongs {{transliteration|sem|*ay}} and {{transliteration|sem|*aw}}.{{sfn|Gragg|1997a|pp=177–178}}{{sfn|Gragg|1997b|p=246}} In Geʽez there still exist many alternations between {{IPA|/o/}} and {{IPA|/aw/}}, less so between {{IPA|/e/}} and {{IPA|/aj/}}, e.g. {{lang|gez|ተሎኩ}} ''taloku'' ~ {{lang|gez|ተለውኩ}} ''talawku'' ("I followed").{{sfn|Lambdin|1978|p=2}}

In the transcription employed by the [[Encyclopaedia Aethiopica]], which is widely employed in academia, the contrast here represented as a/ā is represented as ä/a.