page_title: Sümi language
section_title: Vowels
hierarchical_section_title: Sümi language / Phonology / Vowels
context_page_description: Sümi, also Sema, is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Nagaland, India. It is spoken by the Sümi Naga people.
context_section_description: The vowels of Sümi are as follows:
  Notes:
  /i/ has been variously described as:
  Near-close front unrounded [i̞];
  Close front unrounded [i].
  /ɨ/ has been variously described as:
  Near-close central unrounded [ɨ̞];
  Close central unrounded [ɨ].
  In word-medial position, /ɨ/ can be realized as mid central unrounded [ə].
  /u/ is close back rounded [u].
  The mid vowels /e, o/ can be realized as either close-mid [e, o] or open-mid [ɛ, ɔ].
  Teo (2012) describes the close-mid allophone of /o/ as slightly advanced [o̟].
  /a/ has been variously described as:
  Near-open central unrounded [ɐ];
  Open central unrounded [ä].
  After uvular stops, /a/ can be realized as open back unrounded [ɑ].
caption: Monophthongs of Sema, from Teo (2012:368)