Editing Vertical vowel system

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A '''vertical vowel system''' is the system of [[vowel]]s in a language that requires only [[vowel height]] to phonemically distinguish vowels. Theoretically, [[Roundedness|rounding]], [[Front vowel|frontness]] and [[Back vowel|backness]] could also be used in one-dimensional vowel systems; however, ''vertical'' refers specifically to the usage of vowel height as the sole distinguishing feature.

Vertical vowel systems have only been uncovered in the [[underlying representation]] of various languages' [[phonology]]. [[Phonetics|Phonetically]], all known natural languages employ both front and back vowels;<ref>{{cite book
|first=Paul|last=Kiparsky|year=2017|chapter=Formal and empirical issues in phonological typology|editor1-first=Larry M.|editor1-last=Hyman|editor2-first=Frans|editor2-last=Plank|title=Phonological Typology|publisher=De Gruyter}}</ref> however, in a vertical vowel system, the occurrence of front vs. back vowels is predictable, governed by one or more [[phonological process]]es.

Two different diachronic mechanisms may give rise to a vertical vowel system. In some cases, the front-back distinction may simply be lost when vowels are merged. This has occurred in [[Wichita language|Wichita]], in which an old vowel {{IPA|/u/}} (preserved in the related language [[Pawnee language|Pawnee]]) has merged with {{IPA|/i/}}. However, the Wichita vowel system is not ''phonetically'' vertical, as {{IPA|/a/}} is realised as [[Open vowel|open]] [[Back vowel|back]], {{IPA|/e/}} as [[Open-mid vowel|open-mid]] [[Front vowel|front]], and {{IPA|/i/}} as [[Close vowel|close]] to [[Close-mid vowel|close-mid]] front; hence, the feature [± back] is relevant to the ''phonetics'' of the language, even though it is not a salient phonological distinction. Similarly, the vowel {{IPA|[o]}} is heard in Wichita utterances, although this vowel is usually the phonetic result of a contraction of sequences of [short vowel + '''w''' + short vowel], a phenomenon also noted in other languages with vertical vowel systems.

More striking is a phenomenon whereby one or more phonological features of vowels are lost and reassigned to the consonants at the syllable periphery, leaving all vowels [[Underspecification|underspecified]] for frontness, rounding, or both. This has occurred in [[Arrernte language|Arrernte]], in which vowel rounding has been lost and consonantal [[labialisation]] gained as a result. All members of the [[Northwest Caucasian languages|Northwest Caucasian]] family have reassigned both rounding and frontness to the syllable periphery, the former surfacing as consonantal labialisation, and the latter as [[Palatalization (phonetics)|palatalisation]]. This has also occurred in [[Marshallese language|Marshallese]]. Some argue that the short vowels of [[Irish phonology#Vowels|Irish]] have similarly lost their frontness specification, forming a rudimentary vertical system. However, almost all Irish consonants appear in palatalised and non-palatalised forms, so the loss of frontness specification is viewed as a consequence, rather than a cause, of consonant palatalisation. Furthermore, the loss of frontness specification in Irish is limited to the [[vowel length|short vowel]]s of the language; the [[vowel length|long vowels]] of Irish retain a front-back distinction. Marshallese also has front-back distinction for its long vowels, but these are phonemically sequences of {{IPA|/CVGVC/}} where {{IPA|/G/}} is a [[semiconsonant]];<ref>{{cite book|last=Bender|first=Byron W.|last2=Capelle|first2=Alfred|last3=Pagotto|first3=Louise|year=2016|title=Marshallese Reference Grammar|publisher=University of Hawai{{okina}}i Press|isbn=978-0-8248-5993-0|page=34|quote=In some languages, such sounds are called semivowels or glides, but in Marshallese they are called semiconsonants because they behave more like consonants than like vowels.}}</ref> for example, ''{{lang|mh|rooj}}'' "rose" is broadly {{IPA|/rˠɛwɛtʲ/}}, but more narrowly {{IPA|[rˠɔːtʲ]}}.

''Zero''-dimensional vowel systems, with one phonemic vowel only, have been postulated for [[Nuxálk language|Nuxálk]],{{cn|date=February 2024}} [[Kabardian language|Kabardian]],{{cn|date=February 2024}} and some [[Abkhaz language|Abkhaz]] dialects,{{cn|date=February 2024}} as well as several Central Chadic languages such as [[Moloko language|Moloko]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Friesen | first=Dianne | title=A grammar of Moloko | publisher=Language Science Press | publication-place=Berlin | date=2017-07-11 | isbn=978-3-946234-63-0}}</ref> A phonological analysis with no phonemic vowels at all has been shown to be possible for [[Mofu-Gudur language|Mofu-Gudur]].{{cn|date=February 2024}}

Vertical vowel systems been noted for the following languages:

* [[Northwest Caucasian languages|Northwest Caucasian]]
** [[Abkhaz language|Abkhaz]] (two degrees)
** [[Adyghe language|Adyghe]] (three degrees)
** [[Kabardian language|Kabardian]] (two, perhaps three degrees)
** [[Ubykh language|Ubykh]] (two, perhaps three degrees)
* [[Caddoan languages|Caddoan]]
** [[Wichita language|Wichita]] (three degrees)
*[[Pama–Nyungan languages|Pama-Nyungan]]
**[[Arrernte language|Arrernte]] (two degrees)
* [[Austronesian languages|Austronesian]]
** [[Marshallese language|Marshallese]] (four degrees)
* [[Sepik–Ramu languages]]
* [[Goidelic languages|Goidelic]]
** [[Irish language|Irish]] (three degrees for short vowels ''only'')
* [[Sinitic languages|Sinitic]]
** [[Mandarin Chinese phonology|Mandarin Chinese]] (two degrees, according to [[Standard Chinese phonology#Two vowel analysis (bopomofo-based)|some analyses]])

[[Kazakh language|Kazakh]], [[Mongolian language|Mongolian]] and [[Tundra Nenets language|Tundra Nenets]]<ref>{{cite book
| first=Tapani|last=Salminen
| publisher = [[Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura]]
| location  = Helsinki
| year      = 1997
| isbn      = 952-5150-02-X
| title     = Tundra Nenets inflection
| series    = Mémoires de la Société Finno-Ougrienne
| volume    = 227
| pp        = 36–37
}}</ref> have vowel systems resembling a vertical vowel system in that backness is not phonemic; however, they are not one-dimensional. Backness has in Kazakh and Mongolian been reinterpreted as [[advanced tongue root]], while in Tundra Nenets backness is determined according to the palatalization of adjacent consonants. Vowels are otherwise distinguished, in addition to height, by diphthongization and, in Kazakh and Tundra Nenets, rounding.

==Vowel prosody system==

Complex interaction between a vertical vowel system and [[vowel harmony]], known as a '''vowel prosody system''', appears in many of the [[Central Chadic languages]]. One of the best known cases is [[Margi language|Margi]], but the phenomenon has been documented in more than thirty languages of the group altogether, including all or most languages of five geographically adjacent subgroups:
* Daba group: [[Buwal language|Buwal]], [[Daba language|Daba]], [[Mbudum language|Mbudum]], [[Hina language|Mina]]
* Hurza group: [[Mbuko language|Mbuko]], [[Vame language|Vame]]
* Musgum group: [[Mbara language (Chad)|Mbara]], [[Muskum language|Muskum]]
* Mafa group: [[Cuvok language|Cuvok]], [[Mafa language|Mafa]]
* Mofu group: [[Dugwor language|Dugwor]], [[Gemzek language|Gemzek]], [[Mada language|Mada]], [[Merey language|Merey]], [[Mofu-Gudur language|Mofu-Gudur]], [[Moloko language|Moloko]], [[Muyang language|Muyang]], [[Wuzlam language|Ouldeme]], [[Zulgo language|Zulgo]]
Further examples of the system of the appear in e.g. [[Gidar language|Gidar]] and [[Podoko language|Podoko]].

A typical feature for these languages is that vowel frontness or roundedness cannot be considered a [[segment (linguistics)|segmental]] feature but is instead a [[suprasegmental]] feature, spanning an entire [[morpheme]] or phonological [[word]]. All Central Chadic languages allow frontness as a prosody and therefore contrast minimal pairs such as {{IPA|[dam]}} vs. {{IPA|[dem]}}; only some allow roundedness as a prosody, and in others, rounded vowels are found only next to labialized velar consonants.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite thesis|first=Richard|last=Gravina|year=2014|title=The Phonology of Proto-Central Chadic|type=PhD|publisher=[[Leiden University]]|url=https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/30139|access-date=2015-02-24|ISBN=978-94-6093-157-4}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vertical Vowel System}}
[[Category:Vertical vowel systems| ]]
[[Category:Vowels]]
[[Category:Phonology]]