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Nez Perce vowels and Proto–Sahaptian vowel harmony

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2026

Bruce Rigsby and
Michael Silverstein
Bruce Rigsby
Affiliation:
University of New Mexico
Michael Silverstein
Affiliation:
Harvard University
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Abstract

Vowel harmony in Sahaptian languages is an automatic assimilation of phonemes of a ‘recessive’ set to those of a ‘dominant’ one in the same sequence. It is describable with phonetic features of phonological segments, as opposed to class markings on whole morphemes. In fact, in the Sahaptin dialects, explaining palatalization of front velars requires setting up a preceding phonetic rule of vowel harmony, and different late rules of vowel merging. Historically, we can view the vowel harmony as a phonetic process arising in the dialects by parallel (but not identical) restructuring from a Proto-Sahaptian system of morphological ablaut.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 45 , Issue 1 , March 1969, pp. 45 - 59
Copyright
Copyright © 1969 by Linguistic Society of America

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