The vowel system of the Baining family: i/e
Marc Hausdorf; visualisation by Melanie Schippling
Qaqet has only four vowels – a i u ə, as opposed to Mali, Kairak and Ura, which have six vowels, including e and o. But which of these systems is the original one? There are two possible scenarios. Either Proto-Baining had a vowel system like Qaqet, and Mali, Kairak and Ura developed the additional vowels later on. Or Proto-Baining had the six-vowel system, and Qaqet lost e and o.
To answer that question, we look at words containing the relevant sounds. There are some listed in the table below. Can you guess which scenario is probable?
| Mali | Ura | Kairak | Qaqet | Proto-Baining (see solution) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| nes ‘bite’ | nes ‘bite’ | nes ‘bite’ | nis ‘bite’ | 1 |
| aqepki ‘spear’ | qepka ‘throwing spear’ | qepka ‘spear, arrow’ | qipka ‘spear’ | 2 |
| tes ‘call by name’ | tes ‘call’ | tes ‘read’ | tis ‘call out, say’ | 3 |
| aiska ‘road’ | iska ‘road, path’ | iska ‘road, path’ | 4 | |
| ngi ‘you (sg.)’ | nyi ‘you (sg.)’ | nyi ‘you (sg.)’ | nyi ‘you (sg.)’ | 5 |
Click to show the solution.
Qaqet i does indeed often correspond to e in the other languages. However, there are other words where all Baining languages have i. This would be unexpected if we assumed that Proto-Baining didn’t have an e, and Mali, Kairak, and Ura developed it from i. After all, how would we explain that some i’s change to e, but others don’t? If we assume the reverse, however, it makes perfect sense. Proto-Baining had i as well as e, but Qaqet merged the two sounds into one. Hence, these are the reconstructions:
1. *nes ‘bite’
2. *kep ‘spear’
3. *tes ‘call’
4. *is ‘road’
5. *ngi ‘you (sg.)’