[ATR] reversal in Jumjum
Torben Andersen | Aalborg University
Jumjum, a Western Nilotic language, has an eight-vowel system divided into two sets by the feature [ATR] (Advanced Tongue Root), which is the basis of vowel harmony. A comparison with other Western Nilotic languages shows that (i) this vowel system goes back to a ten-vowel system in Proto-Western Nilotic (PWN), (ii) PWN high [−ATR] vowels have become high [+ATR] vowels in Jumjum, and (iii) conversely, PWN high [+ATR] vowels have become high [−ATR] vowels in Jumjum. The sequence of changes that resulted in this [ATR] reversal in Jumjum relative to PWN provides a historical explanation of synchronically odd, grammatically conditioned vowel-quality alternations in this language.
Keywords: Jumjum, Mayak, Mabaan, sound change, ATR, vowel system, vowel harmony, vowel alternation, Western Nilotic, Burun
Published online: 29 June 2006
https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.23.1.03and
https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.23.1.03and
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Cited by 4 other publications
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In Number – Constructions and Semantics [Studies in Language Companion Series, 151],
► pp. 221 ff. 
Andersen, Torben
2017. Vowel quality alternation in Dinka verb derivation: The Agar variety.
Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 38:1 ► pp. 1 ff.
Andersen, Torben
2018. The encoding of subjects and objects in Jumjum, a Nilotic OV language.
Lingua 204 ► pp. 78 ff.
H. Ekkehard Wolff
2019.
In The Cambridge Handbook of African Linguistics,
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