Vowel Harmony in Aqoonirobi: view article

Aqoonirobi employs a special form of forward-propagating vowel harmony described here as alternating harmony. In Aqoonirobi, adjacent syllables must not typically contain differing vowels which are of the same height, i.e. /i/ must never follow nor precede /ɯ/ while /ɛ/ must never follow nor precede /ʌ/. However, alternating through the vowels in sequence allows for words which contain every vowel. For example, the sequence of /i/ ➜ /ɛ/ then /ɛ/ ➜ /ɯ/ and then finally /ɯ/ ➜ /ʌ/ allows for every vowel to appear in a single word.

[edit] [top]Nasal Harmony in Aqoonirobi

Aqoonirobi also employs nasal harmony within its words. This is less complicated and doesn't involve any additional alteration of the vowels bar turning them into nasals. This harmony is triggered whenever a nasal vowel is encountered and forward propagates from there. Certain affixes (mostly classifiers) can stop this propagation as well as the glottal stop /ʔ/ which always halts it. The classifiers which block nasal harmony are listed below.

Classifier	Noun Class
-(V2_ᴀ)ji	long/stacked things

[edit] [top]Alternating Harmony Paradigms

Below is a table showing all possible vowel harmony paradigms, the percentage below each is the total percentage of affixes that uses that particular paradigm. Note that vowels can also be long as well as retain the nasality of the root morpheme or add nasality altogether. These are differentiated elsewhere using a long vowel marker and/or the nasal diacritic, e.g. -Vː3_ᴄ -Ṽ3_ᴄ and -Ṽː3_ᴄ

For brevity, only the base paradigms are listed below, but know that there are 96 possibilities in total.

A'oonirobi Vowel Harmony Paradigms

Close vowels are opened and backed while Open vowels are closed and fronted

I V1
i	➜	ʌ
ɯ	➜	ʌ
ɛ	➜	i
ʌ	➜	i

Close vowels are opened and fronted while Open vowels are closed and fronted

IIa V2_ᴀ
i	➜	ɛ
ɯ	➜	ɛ
ɛ	➜	i
ʌ	➜	i

Close vowels are opened and backed while Open vowels are closed and backed

¬IIa ¬V2_ᴀ
i	➜	ʌ
ɯ	➜	ʌ
ɛ	➜	ɯ
ʌ	➜	ɯ

Close and Front vowels are opened and fronted while the Open Back vowel closes and fronts

IIb V2_ʙ
i	➜	ɛ
ɯ
ɛ
ʌ	➜	i

the Close Front vowel opens and backs while the Open and Back vowels are closed and backed

¬IIb ¬V2_ʙ
i	➜	ʌ
ɯ	➜	ɯ
ɛ
ʌ

the Close Front vowel opens while the Open and Back vowels are closed and backed

IIIa V3_ᴀ
i	➜	ɛ
ɯ	➜	ɯ
ɛ
ʌ

Close vowels are opened and fronted while Open vowels are closed and backed

IIIb V3_ʙ
i	➜	ɛ
ɯ	➜	ɛ
ɛ	➜	ɯ
ʌ	➜	ɯ

Close vowels and Open vowels are opened and fronted while the Open Back vowel is closed

IIIc V3_ᴄ
i	➜	ɛ
ɯ
ɛ
ʌ	➜	ɯ

All vowels are opened

IVa V4_ᴀ
i	➜	ɛ
ɯ	➜	ʌ
ɛ	➜	ɛ
ʌ	➜	ʌ

All vowels are closed

¬IVa ¬V4_ᴀ
i	➜	i
ɯ	➜	ɯ
ɛ	➜	i
ʌ	➜	ɯ

Open vowels stay the same while Close vowels are opened and fronted

IVb V4_ʙ
i	➜	ɛ
ɯ
ɛ
ʌ	➜	ʌ

Close vowels stay the same while Open vowels are closed and backed

¬IVb ¬V4_ʙ
i	➜	i
ɯ	➜	ɯ
ɛ
ʌ

Front vowels are opened while Back vowels are closed

V V5
i	➜	ɛ
ɯ	➜	ɯ
ɛ	➜	ɛ
ʌ	➜	ɯ

Front vowels are closed while Back vowels are opened

¬V ¬V5
i	➜	i
ɯ	➜	ʌ
ɛ	➜	i
ʌ	➜	ʌ

Open vowels and Front vowels are closed and fronted while the Close Back vowel is opened

VIa V6_ᴀ
i	➜	i
ɯ	➜	ʌ
ɛ	➜	i
ʌ	➜	i

Close vowels and Back vowels are opened and backed while the Open Front vowel is closed

¬VIa ¬V6_ᴀ
i	➜	ʌ
ɯ	➜	ʌ
ɛ	➜	i
ʌ	➜	ʌ

Open vowels and Front vowels are closed and fronted while the Close Back vowel is opened and fronted

VIb V6_ʙ
i	➜	i
ɯ	➜	ɛ
ɛ	➜	i
ʌ	➜	i

Close vowels and Back vowels are opened and backed while the Open Front vowel is closed and backed

¬VIb ¬V6_ʙ
i	➜	ʌ
ɯ	➜	ʌ
ɛ	➜	ɯ
ʌ	➜	ʌ

Close vowels stay the same while the Open Front vowel is closed and backed and the Open Back vowel is closed and fronted

VIIa V7_ᴀ
i	➜	i
ɯ	➜	ɯ
ɛ	➜	ɯ
ʌ	➜	i

Open vowels stay the same while the Close Back vowel is opened and fronted and the Close Front vowel is opened and backed

¬VIIa ¬V7_ᴀ
i	➜	ʌ
ɯ	➜	ɛ
ɛ	➜	ɛ
ʌ	➜	ʌ

Close vowels stay the same while open vowels are closed and fronted

VIIb V7_ʙ
i	➜	i
ɯ	➜	ɯ
ɛ	➜	i
ʌ	➜	i

Open vowels stay the same while Close vowels are opened and backed

¬VIIb ¬V7_ʙ
i	➜	ʌ
ɯ	➜	ʌ
ɛ	➜	ɛ
ʌ	➜	ʌ

Front vowels stay the same while the Close Back vowel is opened and fronted and the Open Back vowel is closed and fronted

VIII V8
i	➜	i
ɯ	➜	ɛ
ɛ	➜	ɛ
ʌ	➜	i

Back vowels stay the same while the Open Front vowel is closed and backed and the Close Front vowel is opened and backed

¬VIII ¬V8
i	➜	ʌ
ɯ	➜	ɯ
ɛ	➜	ɯ
ʌ	➜	ʌ

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