Steg Belsky scripsit:
> Or couldn't the /a/ just be immune to the vowel harmony? I seem to
> remember hearing about languages with harmony systems where some of the
> phonemes aren't locked into the system, so /a/ could be a 'free-range
> vowel' that can go with both front and back vowels.
Typically, neutral vowels arise from a collapse: thus i is neutral in
Mongolian because i and 1 merged before the Classical period.
--
BALIN FUNDINUL UZBAD KHAZADDUMU jcowan@reutershealth.com
BALIN SON OF FUNDIN LORD OF KHAZAD-DUM http://www.ccil.org/~cowan