Another look at Tunica vowels
Date
1978-05
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Calgary
Abstract
In several publications on Tunica, an extinct language once spoken in Louisiana, Mary Haas (1950, 1944) presents a vowel inventory which consists of seven phonemes. A close study of the morphophonemic alternations within the language suggests that there were only five underlying vowels and that the occurrence of [ɛ] and [ɔ] was predictable. In this paper, I will attempt to demonstrate that [ɛ] and [ɔ] are derived in two ways: (1) vowel coalescence and (2) assimilation. I will discuss the effects of each of these processes separately.
Description
Keywords
Linguistics, Tunica language, Historical linguistics, Morphophonemics
Citation
Latimer, R. (1978). Another look at Tunica vowels. Calgary Working Papers in Linguistics, 4(Spring), 45-50.