On the diachronic origin of Nivkh height restrictions

Hidetoshi Shiraishi | Sapporo Gakuin University

Bert Botma | Leiden University Centre for Linguistics

Nivkh, a genetic isolate spoken in the Russian Far East, displays a pattern of stress-dependent height restrictions in a linguistic area where tongue-root harmony is prevalent. We argue that the Nivkh pattern derives from an earlier tongue-root system. This system developed into a height-based system following the loss of tongue-root contrasts in high vowels, in much the same way as has been proposed for dialects of Manchu.

Keywords: Nivkh, Manchu-Tungus, vowel harmony, vowel reduction, Element Theory, language contact, areal linguistics, diachronic linguistics, fieldwork

Published online: 30 November 2017
https://doi.org/10.1075/lfab.14.c12

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