Non-Finno-Ugric/Turkish vowel harmony systems and the

Dirk Elzinga scripsit:

> The curious feature of Nez Perce is that the two sets of vowels don't
> seem to form natural classes. In particular, the presence of /i/ in both
> sets is rather perplexing. Stems which contain /i/ can trigger dominant
> harmony or fail to trigger it. Compare the forms for 'paternal aunt'
> with those for 'mother', which is almost idential to it in form:
Some Altaic languages have neutral vowels too, and the usual explanation
is that an ordinary vocalic opposition has been fully neutralized:
/i/ and /barred-i/ have collapsed, and so the vowel harmony is damaged a bit.

Interestingly, I don't know any language where vowel harmony is active.
It's always inherited from the original stock, and it doesn't affect
loan words, and it's always somewhat damaged by sound changes.

--
John Cowan  jcowan@reutershealth.com  www.ccil.org/~cowan  www.reutershealth.com
"If I have seen farther than others, it is because I am surrounded by dwarves."
        --Murray Gell-Mann