LINGUIST List 7.1078

Fri Jul 26 1996

Sum: Front Rounded Vowels

Editor for this issue: Ljuba Veselinova <lveselinemunix.emich.edu>

Directory

1. Mike_Maxwellsil.org, Front Rounded Vowels (more)

About a month ago, I posted a query here as to whether any languages
of the Americas had front rounded vowels. I received just a few
replies citing a few languages, one of which (Cacua of Colombia)
turned out to be mistaken.

Since then I pursued the question with the help of some friends
working on Mexican languages, and came up with several definite cases.


 From Wolfram Kreikebaum (Wolfram_Kreikebaumsil.org):
 Albarradas Zapotec: in the dialect of Sto. Domingo Albarradas...
 when a morpheme ends in a consonant, Sto. Domingo has a tendency to
 show 81 rather than u [where other dialects of Zapotec show a
 u.]... Children and some young people do not pronounce 81, instead
 they pronounce i.

 From Doris Bartholemew (Doris_Bartholemewsil.org):
 Chichimeco Jonas, spoken in San Luis de la Paz, Guanajuato, Mexico,
 has a front rounded vowel. It was reported in IJAL in 1932: Jaime de
 Angulo, The Chichimeco Language (Central Mexico), IJAL 7:152-194.
 Since then there was a phonemic statement by Moises Romero in the late
 1950s which also reports it.

Totontepec Mixe also has front rounded vowels; the following
bibliographical information is from Alvin Schoenhals:
 A fairly complete description of Totontepec Mixe phonemes can be
 found in John Crawford's dissertation for his Ph.D. The title is
 Totontepec Mixe Phonotagmes published in 1963. SIL and The Univ. of
 Okla. Also mentioned as possibly having FRVs are Chinantec of
 Ozumaci'n and Mixeof Tlahuitoltepec.