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Re: Three vowel systems (was: Brr)

From:Jörg Rhiemeier <joerg_rhiemeier@...>
Date:Wednesday, August 1, 2007, 19:19
Hallo!

On Wed, 1 Aug 2007 09:13:58 +0200, Benct Philip Jonsson wrote:

> AFMOC Kijeb has a three vowel system without quantity > distinctions which first grows to a nine vowel system thru > umlaut processes and merger of unstressed vowels, and then > again shrinks to a five or six vowel system through further > mergers (/o/ > /Q/; /e/, /u\/ > /i\/; /@/ > /6/; /i\/ > /i/) > in stressed vowels and vowel height harmony. Some dialects > also develop long vowels through loss of /j w h G/ and front > rounded vowels through vowel frontness harmony.
Proto-Albic also has a 3-vowel system without quantity. In Classical Old Albic, the diphthongs *ai and *au changed into /e/ and /o/, respectively, when in a closed syllable; also, *aja and *ava became /e/ and /o/. And then, umlaut created more "mixed" vowels, inclusing front rounded ones. Loss of post-vocalic *h with compensatory lengthening created long vowels. In the end, Classical Old Albic has /a e i o u 2 y/ and their long counterparts. In some dialects, different developments happened. On Wed, 1 Aug 2007 12:37:11 -0400, John Vertical wrote:
> I've gotten the impression that 3-vowel conprotolangs are popular for some > reason.
My reason for it was that the way vowel features behave in Old Albic, it makes sense to deduce it all from a 3-vowel system. Also, the Old European hydronymy hints at the former existence of a 3-vowel language in much of western Europe; and I fancy Albic to be remotely related to Indo-European, which also appears to have had a 3-vowel system before the development of ablaut. ... brought to you by the Weeping Elf