Òma Lóngh Historical Phonology

The phonology of Òma Lóngh Kenyah as described by Soriente (2006) shows striking typological differences from its nearest relatives. Contrary to a pattern of avoidance that is almost universal in Austronesian languages, it has developed final palatals, including a voiceless unreleased palatal stop (...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Oceanic linguistics 2007-06, Vol.46 (1), p.1-53
Main Author: Blust, Robert
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Austronesian languages
Consonants
Diachrony and historical linguistics
Glottal stops
Historical analysis
Innovations
Language
Language typology
Linguistics
Nasals
Native languages
Phonetics
Phonological change
Phonology
Rice
Sound change
Stops
Syllables
Velar consonants
Vowel harmony
Vowels
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Summary:The phonology of Òma Lóngh Kenyah as described by Soriente (2006) shows striking typological differences from its nearest relatives. Contrary to a pattern of avoidance that is almost universal in Austronesian languages, it has developed final palatals, including a voiceless unreleased palatal stop (written -j), and a palatal nasal (written -ny). In violation of universal tendencies in phonological systems, it has also innovated a voiceless velar nasal (but no other voiceless nasals) in final position. Out of a Proto-Kenyah six-vowel system in which tense mid vowels occurred only word-finally, it has developed three new vowels and an unusual system of double vowel harmony that requires both High-Mid avoidance and Tense-Lax agreement. Even more surprisingly, a typologically bizarre connection between the tenseness/laxness of the penultimate vowel and the shape of the final syllable is present in one subclass of bases, but emerges clearly only through a historical analysis. Together, these innovations add to an already impressive picture of north-central Borneo as a "hot spot" for rapid phonological change, including changes that do not appear to be phonetically motivated.
ISSN:0029-8115
1527-9421
1527-9421
DOI:10.1353/ol.2007.0016