Vowelfinal

Vowelfinal is a descriptive term used in phonology and linguistic typology to refer to a tendency or pattern in which words or morphemes typically end in a vowel sound rather than a consonant. In discussions of syllable structure, vowelfinal languages are often contrasted with consonant-final languages, where many words end in a consonant.

Phonologically, vowelfinal data is associated with open syllables, such as (C)V or (C)VC in many word roots, and with vowel-rich inflectional or derivational suffixes. In languages with strong vowelfinal tendencies, the final vowel may be phonemic, or it may be predictable due to morphophonemic alternations or clitic suffixes. Surface endings can be affected by sandhi or post-lexical processes, so vowelfinal status is a general tendency rather than a universal rule.

Orthography can reinforce vowelfinal patterns; in languages with transparent spelling, words end in a vowel in writing as well as in pronunciation. Conversely, some languages allow consonant-final forms in specific word classes or historical stages, due to loanwords, compounding, or morphophonemic processes.

Examples commonly cited as having vowel-final tendencies include Hawaiian and Japanese, where many words end in a vowel or a vowel-like mora; several Austronesian languages likewise favor open syllables. However, the distribution of final segments varies widely across languages, and many languages exhibit both vowel-final and consonant-final words because of borrowing, affixation, and historical sound change.

In linguistic discussion, vowelfinal is thus best understood as a typological tendency rather than a rigid universal rule, useful for describing syllable structure, phonotactics, and morphology across language families.