Kypchak rounding harmony
From FireSpeakerWiki
In one dialect of Kyrgyz, there's an asymmetry in the system of vowel-rounding harmony.
Kazakh
In Kazakh, the roundness feature was lost on non-first syllables (except for with so-called long vowels), but rounding harmony makes up for this:
- */bu/+/kün/ > */bügün/
- */bügün/ > /bügin/ (modern orthographic/underlying form)
- /bügin/ > [bügün] (rounding harmony creates modern spoken form)
Examples of rounding harmony working:
- /jüremin/ [jürömün]
- /köremin/ [körömün]
- /sordım/ [sordum]
- /buldım/ [buldum]
Examples of rounding harmony not working:
- /turamın/ [turamın]
- /bulamın/ [bulamın]
- /soramın/ [soramın] (Kg: ?[soromun])
Kazakh's vowel system
As best I can tell:
- ı
- i +front
- u +round
- ü +front,+round
—
- a -high,(+low?)
- o +round,(-high)
- e +front,(-high)
- ö +front,+round,-high
- ä +front,-high,+low
—
- features that spread: +front,+low,+round
- features that don't spread: -high
another possibility:
- ı
- i +front
- u +round
- ü +front,+round
—
- a +ATR
- o +ATR,+round
- e +ATR,+front
- ö +ATR,+front,+round
- ä -ATR,+front(,-high??)
—
- features that spread: +front,+round
- features that don't spread: ±ATR
Kyrgyz
- V > [+rd] / V[+rd] C∅ __
- except not a > o / u C∅ __
