Re: THEORY: Vowel gradation
| From: | Danny Wier <dawiertx@...> |
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| Date: | Thursday, April 1, 2004, 3:23 |
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From: "Trebor Jung" <treborjung@...>
> I have a problem. In one of my languages, which is like Mark Rosenfelder's
> Kebreni in that it uses vowel gradation, I made a rule that says front
> vowels become back vowels and back vowels become front vowels. The problem
> is that I don't know what to change /@, a, {/ to. Suggestions? (I have a
> vowel inventory of /i, y, e, 2, @, a, {, o, u/).
Those could be "neutral" vowels that don't change. Or if they do, in cases
of fronting, @ > I, a > &, and when backed, @ > U, a > O or Q.
> Another question: With the inventory above, what would each vowel become
if
> it were raised or lowered (this for another grammatical function)?
Lowering could result in lax variants: i > I, y > Y, e > E, 2 > 9, @ > 3, &
(or {) > a, o > O, u > U. A "raised schwa" may also occur: @ > i\ (possibly
[u\] in labial environments).
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