The vowel system of the Baining family: u/o
Marc Hausdorf; visualisation by Melanie Schippling
You have already read about the sound change concerning i/e in the vowel system of the Baining family. The story of u/o is a little more complicated: Sometimes all languages have u, and sometimes Qaqet has u or a or au where the other languages have o. The table below gives examples. Can you guess which sound changes have taken place?
| Mali | Ura | Kairak | Qaqet | Proto-Baining (see solution) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| valo ‘eggs’ | lao ‘eggs’ | elo ‘eggs’ | lu ‘eggs’ | 1 |
| lu ‘see’ | lu ‘see’ | lu ‘see’ | 2 | |
| rhu ‘put’ | ru ‘do, make, put’ | rhu ‘put’ | 3 | |
| nok ‘cry’ | nok ‘sing out’ | nak ‘cry’ | nak ‘cry’ | 4 |
| rhon nə ‘throw’ | ron ‘throw’ | ran ‘throw’ | 5 | |
| toqorjia ‘like this’ | roqori ‘like this’ | taquar ‘like this’ | 6 | |
| von, bon ‘give’ | bon ‘give’ | von, bon ‘give’ | van, tban ‘buy’ | 7 |
| vono ‘up’ | vono ‘on top’ | vanu ‘on top’ | 8 | |
| vangon ‘flying foxes’ | engon ‘flying foxes’ | nguan ‘flying foxes’ | 9 | |
| ngotki ‘crow’ | ngotki ‘crow’ | nguatka ‘crow’ | 10 | |
| qop sə ‘tie up’ | qop ‘tie’ | quap ‘tie’ | 11 |
Click to show the solution.
Proto-Baining o becomes u in Qaqet if it’s at the end of a word; ua if it follows k, g, q, or ng; and a everywhere else. Again, just as for the case of i/e, there are cases where all languages have u, which suggests that Qaqet must have merged u and o. Hence, these are the reconstructions:
1. *palo ‘eggs’
2. *lu‘see’
3. *tu‘put’
4. *nok ‘cry’
5. *ton ‘throw’
6. *tokor ‘like this’
7. *pon ‘give’
8. *pono‘up, on top’
9. *pangon ‘flying foxes’
10. *ngot ‘crow’
11. *kop ‘tie’