Three vowel systems (was: Brr)

>AFMOC Kijeb has a three vowel system without quantity
>distinctions which (...)
>
>/BP 8^)>
(What's the "O" stand for? "Own"? Isn't that redundant?)

I've gotten the impression that 3-vowel conprotolangs are popular for some
reason. uwjge also derives from an ancestor with three vowels but expands to
five over time; here tho, short /e o/ come from /i u/ via nasalization,
disharmony in */ji wu/, and/or loering in the presence of pharyngeals over a
few millenia. The long'uns are messy, and I won't go into details here...

I also have one sketch with a 4-vowel system /i: o: E A/ which tries hard to
look like it came from a 2-vowel system, but actually doesn't.

-Natlang-wise, just about everything in Australia that's not English also
have 3-vowel systems, sometimes with length.

John Vertical

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