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Re: Vowel Harmony Q

From:rob_nierse <rnierse@...>
Date:Friday, January 23, 2004, 13:32
Dirk Elzinga:
> On Thursday, January 22, 2004, at 07:59 AM, Andreas Johansson
wrote:
> > Does the notation /o/ suggested that there simply is no high back > > vowel? I'd > > expect the vowels of a four-vowel system to gravitate towards [i
E A
> > u] or so, > > to maximize distinctiveness. > > This is an interesting problem. Both Navajo and Nahuatl have this
same
> basic four-vowel inventory, and in both languages there is
variation in
> the pronunciation of the round vowel from high to open mid.
I forgot to mention: thre is a lot of allophony in Tlapóa. /e/ can be [e] or [E] and o can be [u] or [o] (also depending on the previous vowel, if that vowel is high (/i/), then /o/ is likely pronounced [u].