Re: If Tech was written in Arabic script... (long post)

Danny Wier wrote:
>> What causes umlaut?
>
>Basically vowel harmony, but the vowel that causes the harmony often
>disappears, leaving its mark on the preceding vowel, so a word like |tobi|
>in Proto-Tech becomes /t2b'/. This too I have to work out the details for.
>
This seems comparable to Engl. irregularities like foot : feet.
I seem to recall that in one earlier incarnation of Tech, you ascribed such
changes to metathesis-- tobi (via toib) > töb -- which I thought was Really
Neat (and I'm considering using it in a future conlang).  There are at least
two natlangs (both Malayo-Polynesian) where metathesis like this takes
place, and IIRC, can be considered an active process, since
metathesized/non-met. forms alternate.  (That may not be the case in Tech.)

In Rotuman (Oceanic), the metathesis produces a number of new vowels, of the
sort ...oCi > ...öC, or ...aCo > ...OC, that don't otherwise occur. This
plays hob with classical Phonemic analysis.

In Timorese/Atoni/Dawan (western Timor) it seems to produce a lot of
diphthongs, a few vowels with changed quality, though no front-rounded
vowels. Exs. that pop to mind are teun '3', katenu '3rd' ; usi 'ancestor',
uis neno lit.  ancestor-sun, their chief Deity.