The Romanian language has seven vowels and twenty-two consonants, including two semivowels, /j/ and /w/. Romanian (limba română IPA ), the official language of Romania is an Eastern Romance language, spoken natively by about 26 million people, most of them in Romania and Vojvodina. ... In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language that is characterized by an open configuration of the vocal tract, in contrast to consonants, which are characterized by a constriction or closure at one or more points along the vocal tract. ... A consonant is a sound in spoken language that is characterized by a closure or stricture sufficient to cause audible turbulence, at one or more points along the vocal tract. ...

Vowels

There are seven vowel phonemes in Romanian: In spoken language, a phoneme is a basic, theoretical unit of sound that can distinguish words (that is, changing a phoneme in a word, produces another word, that has a different meaning). ...

Additionally, Romanian contains many diphthongs, eighteen in all, plus five triphthongs. The diphthongs are /ea ia oa ua ie ai əi ɨi ei oi ui io au əu ɨu eu iu ou/ and the triphthongs are /ioa eai iau eau oai/. A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. ... A mid vowel is a vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... An open vowel is a vowel sound of a type used in most spoken languages. ... In phonetics, a diphthong (Greek δίφθογγος, diphthongos, literally with two sounds) is a vowel combination usually involving a quick but smooth movement from one vowel to another, often interpreted by listeners as a single vowel sound or phoneme. ... In phonetics, a triphthong is a monosyllabic vowel combination usually involving a quick, but smooth movement from one vowel to another that passes over a third one. ...

Consonants

In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. ... In phonetics, labiodentals are consonants articulated with the lower lips and the upper teeth, or viceversa. ... Dentals are consonants articulated with either the lower or the upper teeth, or both. ... Alveolars are consonants articulated with the tip of the tongue against the alveolar ridge, the internal side of the upper gums (known as the alveoles of the upper teeth). ... Postalveolar (or palato-alveolar) consonants are consonants articulated with the tip of the tongue between the alveolar ridge (the place of articulation for alveolar consonants) and the palate (the place of articulation for palatal consonants). ... Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the middle or back part of the tongue raised against the hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth). ... Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum). ... A stop or plosive or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. ... An affricate is a consonant that begins like a stop (most often an alveovelar, such as [t] or [d]) and that doesnt have a release of its own, but opens directly into a fricative (or, in one language, into a trill). ... A nasal consonant is produced when the velum—that fleshy part of the palate near the back—is lowered, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. ... Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ... A liquid will assume the shape of its container. ... Semivowels (also called semiconsonants or glides) are vowels that function phonemically as consonants. ...

Orthography

• The letters c and g represent the affricates /ʧ/ and /ʤ/ before i and e, and /k/ and /ɡ/ before a, o, u, or â/î. The digraphs ch and gh before front vowels represent /k/ and /ɡ/.
• h represents /x/
• j represents /ʒ/
• ş and ț represent /ʃ/ and /ʦ/
• A final orthographical i represents palatalization of the preceding consonants (e. g. lup /lup/ "wolf" vs. lupi /lupʲ/ "wolves"). A full vowel /i/ word-finally is represented by ii, e. g. lupii, which is /lupi/ "the wolves."
• The diphthongs /əi/, /əu/, /ɨi/, and /ɨu/ are represented by ăi, ău, âi, and âu.
• The letters î and â both represent the same sound, /ɨ/, a close central unrounded vowel. Until 1904 there were four letters representing this sound: â, ê, î and û. During Communist rule in Romania (more precisely between 1953 and 1993) only the letter î was used to transcribe this sound. According to the current usage accepted by the Romanian Academy, /ɨ/ is transcribed as either î when used as the first or last letter of words, or â when it occurs in the middle of the word. In practice, either usage is acceptable and some publications still retain the Communist-era ortography.
• The schwa, /ə/, is represented by ă.