Cover not available
Part of
Paradigm Change: In the Transeurasian languages and beyond
Edited by Martine Robbeets and Walter Bisang
[Studies in Language Companion Series 161] 2014
► pp. 141–176

Chapter 7. Comparative consequences of the tongue root harmony analysis for proto-Tungusic, proto-Mongolic, and proto-Korean

| Queens College of the City University of New York
| Cornell University
| Cornell University | National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics

This paper examines the role of retracted tongue root ([RTR]) harmony in Northeast Asian areal and genetic relationships. Recent research has suggested that at least three of the families grouped together as Altaic by Poppe (1960) – Korean, Mongolic, and Tungusic (KMT) – should be reconstructed with [RTR] vowel harmony. In this paper we reinforce this conclusion, arguing specifically against proposals that [RTR] harmony is secondary, or that [ATR] is the dominant feature. We also argue against the proposal of Starostin et al. (2003) that specific proto-families such as proto-Tungusic should be reconstructed without vowel harmony. We then compare the status of [RTR] harmony in Northeast Asia to the status of tongue root harmony in the Central Sudanic Zone, extending our discussion to the vowel harmony found in Chukchi, Yukaghir, Nivkh, and Ainu. We discuss whether KMT-style [RTR] harmony should be viewed as an innovation or a retention, and examine the particular issue of the Korean vowel inventory.

Published online: 8 October 2014
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.161.13ko
References
Ahn, Sang-Cheol
2002 A dispersion account on Middle Korean vowel shifts. In Japanese/Korean Linguistics 10, Noriko M. Akatsuka & Susan Strauss (eds), 237–250. Stanford, CA: CSLI.Google Scholar
Aralova, Natalia, Grawunder, Sven & Winter, Bodo
2011 The acoustic correlates of tongue root vowel harmony in Even (Tungusic). Proceedings of the 17th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS XVII): 240–243.
Archangeli, Diana B. & Pulleyblank, Douglas G
1994 Grounded Phonology. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Ard, Josh
1981 A sketch of vowel harmony in the Tungusic languages. In Studies in the Languages of the USSR, B. Comrie (ed.), 23–43. Edmonton, Alberta: Linguistic Research.Google Scholar
1984 Vowel harmony in Manchu: A critical overview. Journal of Linguistics 20(1): 57–80. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baxter, William H. & Sagart, Laurent
2011 Baxter-Sagart Old Chinese Reconstruction. [URL] (20 February 2011)Google Scholar
Benzing, Johannes
1955 Die tungusischen Sprachen: Versuch einer vergleichenden Grammatik. Wiesbaden: Verlag der Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur in Mainz.Google Scholar
Bobaljik, Jonathan
2009 Disharmony and Decay: Itelmen Vowel Harmony in the Soviet Period. Ms, University of Connecticut.Google Scholar
Buraev, Ignatij Dmitrievich
1959 Zvukovoj sostav burjatskogo jazyka(The Sound Structure of Buriat). Ulan-Ude.Google Scholar
Casali, Roderic F
2003 [ATR] value asymmetries and underlying vowel inventory structure in Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan. Linguistic Typology 7(3): 307–382. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Castrén, A
1856 Grundzüge einer tungusischen Sprachlehre nebst kurzem Wörterverzeichniss. Saint Petersburg.Google Scholar
Catford, John C
1994 Vowel systems of Caucasian languages. In Non-Slavic Languages of the USSR: Papers from the Fourth Conference, Howard Isaac Aronson (ed.), 44–60. Columbus OH: Slavica.Google Scholar
Čenggeltei
1959 Mongɣol kelen-ü baɣarin ayalɣun-u abiy-a-yin jüi ba üges-ün jüi [Phonology and morphology of the Baarin dialect of Mongolian]. Öbör Monggol-un Yeke Surgaguli-yin Erdem Sinjilegen-ü Sedgül: Gün Uqagan Neyigem Sinjilekü Uqagan (Journal of Inner Mongolia University: Philosophy and Social Sciences) 1959(2): 1–96.Google Scholar
1963 Mongɣol kelen-ü abiyan-u sistem (The Mongolian sound system). Öbör Monggol-un Yeke Surgaguli-yin Erdem Sinjilegen-ü Sedgül: Gün Uqagan Neyigem Sinjilekü Uqagan (Journal of Inner Mongolia University: Philosophy and Social Sciences) 1963(2): 1–84.Google Scholar
Čenggeltei & Sinedke
1959 Mongɣol kelen-ü ündüsün egesig-üd-ün tuqai (The basic vowels of Mongolian). Öbör Monggol-un Yeke Surgaguli-yin Erdem Sinjilegen-ü Sedgül: Gün Uqagan Neyigem Sinjilekü Uqagan (Journal of Inner Mongolia University: Philosophy and Social Sciences) 1959(2): 97–114.Google Scholar
Cho, Mi-Hui
1994 Vowel Harmony in Korean: A Grounded Phonology Approach. PhD dissertation, Indiana University.Google Scholar
Clements, G.N. & Rialland, Annie
2008 Africa as a phonological area. In A Linguistic Geography of Africa, B. Heine & D. Nurse (eds), 36–85. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Dimmendaal, Gerrit J
2001 Areal diffusion versus genetic inheritance: an African perspective. In Areal Diffusion and Genetic Inheritance: Problems in Comparative Linguistics, Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald & Robert M.W. Dixon (eds), 359–392. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Dresher, B. Elan
2009 The Contrastive Hierarchy in Phonology. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dresher, B. Elan, Harvey, Christopher & Oxford, Will
2012 Contrast shift as a type of diachronic change. Handout presented at the 43rd annual meeting of the North East Linguistic Society (NELS 43), CUNY.
Dresher, B. Elan & Zhang, Xi
2005 Contrast and phonological activity in Manchu vowel systems. Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue Canadienne de Linguistique 50: 45–82. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Georg, Stefan
2004 Unreclassifying Tungusic. In Proceedings of the First International Conference on Manchu-Tungus Studies (Bonn, August 28-September 1, 2000), Vol 2: Trends in Tungusic and Siberian Linguistics [Tunguso Sibirica 9], Carsten Naeher, Giovanni Stary & Michael Weiers (eds), 45–57. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Goad, Heather
1992 [Atr] and [Rtr] are different features. In Proceedings of the Tenth West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, Dawn Bates (ed.), 163–173. Stanford CA: CSLI.Google Scholar
Hall, Beatrice L. & Hall, Richard M.R
1980 Nez Perce vowel harmony: An Africanist explanation and some theoretical questions. In Issues in Vowel Harmony (Proceedings of the CUNY Linguistics Conference on Vowel Harmony, 14th May 1977), [Studies in Language Companion Series 6], Robert M. Vago (ed), 201-236. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hattori, Shirō
1975 Boin chōwa to chūki chōsengo no boin taikei (Vowel harmony and the Middle Korean vowel system). Gengo no Kagaku 6: 1–22.Google Scholar
1982 Vowel harmonies of the Altaic languages, Korean, and Japanese. Acta Orientalia Hungarica 36: 207–214.Google Scholar
Hayata, Teruhiro
1980 Non-abstract vowel harmony in Manchu. Gengo Kenkyū 77: 59–79.Google Scholar
Hu, Zengyi
2001 Elunchun yu yanjiu(Research on the Oroqen Language). Beijing, China: Minzu chubanshe.Google Scholar
Hyman, Larry
2011 The Macro-Sudan belt and Niger-Congo reconstruction. Language Dynamics & Change 1(1): 3–49. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ikegami, Jirō
1997 Uirutago jiten (A Dictionary of the Uilta Language spoken on Sakhalin). Sapporo: Hokkaidō Daigaku Tosho Kankōkai.Google Scholar
Itō, Chiyuki
2007 Chōsen kanzion kenkyū(Sino-Korean Phonology). Tokyo: Kyuko-shoin.Google Scholar
Janhunen, Juha
1981 Korean vowel system in North Asian perspective. Hangeul 172: 129–146.Google Scholar
2003 Proto-Mongolic. In The Mongolic Languages, Juha Janhunen (ed.), 1–29. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Joseph, Andrew & Whitman, John
2013 The diachronic consequences of the RTR analysis of Tungusic vowel harmony. In MIT Working Papers in Linguistics 67: Proceedings of the 8th Workshop on Altaic Formal Linguistics (WAFL 8), Umut Özge (ed.), 159–174. Cambridge MA: MITWPL.Google Scholar
Kang, Hijo & Ko, Seongyeon
2011 In search of the acoustic correlates of tongue root retraction in three Altaic languages: Western Buriat, Tsongol Buriat, and Ewen. Altai Hakpo 22: 179–203.Google Scholar
Kaun, Abigail
1995 The Typology of Rounding Harmony: An Optimality Theoretic Approach. PhD dissertation, UCLA.Google Scholar
2004 The typology of rounding harmony. In Phonetically Based Phonology, Bruce Hayes, Robert M. Kirchner & Donca Steriade (eds), 87–116. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kazama, Shinjirō
2003 Basic Vocabulary (A) of Tungusic Languages (Endangered Languages of the Pacific Rim Publications Series A2–037) Publications on Tungus Languages and Cultures 25]. Ōsaka: Ōsaka Gakuin University.Google Scholar
Kim, Chin-Wu
1978 “Diagonal” vowel harmony? Some implications for historical phonology. In Recent Developments in Historical Phonology 4, Jacek Fisiak (ed.), 221–236. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Kim, Jong-Kyoo
2000 Quantity-sensitivity and Feature-sensitivity of Vowels: A Constraint-based Approach to Korean Vowel Phonology. PhD dissertation, Indiana University.Google Scholar
Kim, Juwon
1988 Moumcohwawa selchwuk: Hwunminjengum haylyeyuy selchwukey tayhaye (Vowel harmony and “selchwuk”: On the tongue retraction in Hunminjeongeum). Eoneohag (Journal of the Linguistic Society of Korea) 9(10): 29-43.Google Scholar
1989 Mancwu thwungkwusuceyeuy moumcohwa yenkwu (A Study on Vowel Harmony in the Manchu-Tungus Languages). PhD dissertation, Seoul National University.Google Scholar
1993 Moumcohwauy yenku (A Study on Vowel Harmony in Korean). Kyeungsan: Yeungnam University Press.Google Scholar
1999 Selkunhwuchwukkwa selkuncencin (RTR and ATR). In Eneuy yeksa(History of Languages: In Honor of Professor Baeg-in Seong), 311–341. Seoul: Thaehaksa.Google Scholar
2011 A Grammar of Ewen [Altaic Languages Series 6]. Seoul: Seoul National University Press.Google Scholar
Kim-Renaud, Y.-K
2008 The vowel system and vowel harmony in 15th century Korean revisited. In Proceedings of the SCRIPTA 2008: Hunminjeongeum and Alphabetic Writing Systems, 23–36.Google Scholar
Ko, Seongyeon
2010 A contrastivist view on the evolution of the Korean vowel system. In MIT Working Papers in Linguistics 61: Proceedings of the 6th Workshop on Altaic Formal Linguistics (WAFL 6), Hiroki Maezawa & Azusa Yokogoshi (eds), 181–196. Cambridge MA: MITWPL.Google Scholar
2011 Vowel contrast and vowel harmony shift in the Mongolic languages. Language Research 47(1): 23–43.Google Scholar
2012 Tongue Root Harmony and Vowel Contrast in Northeast Asian Languages. PhD dissertation, Cornell University.Google Scholar
2013a The end of the Korean vowel shift controversy. Korean Linguistics 15(2): 195–216. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2013b Vowel feature hierarchies in Tungusic. In Current Trends in Altaic Linguistics: A Festschrift for Professor Emeritus Seong Baeg-in on his 80th Birthday, Juwon Kim & Dongho Ko (eds), 91-124. Seoul: Altaic Society of Korea.Google Scholar
2013c Towards a contrast-driven typology of the Altaic vowel systems. Paper presented at the 9th Workshop on Altaic Formal Linguistics (WAFL 9). Cornell University, Ithaca NY.
Kwak, Chung-gu
2003 Hyentay kwukeuy moumcheykyewa ku pyenhwauy panghyang (The vowel system of Contemporary Korean and direction of change). Kwukehak 41: 59–91.Google Scholar
Ladefoged, Peter & Maddieson, Ian
1996 The Sounds of the World’s Languages. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Lee, Byung-Gun
1985 Moum cohwauy thukseng (Some tangible properties of vowel harmony). Inmwunnonchong 15: 3–36.Google Scholar
Lee, Duck-Young
1994 Korean vowel harmony: ATR-harmony. Hangeul 223: 157–199.Google Scholar
Lee, Jin-Seong
1992 Phonology and Sound Symbolism of Korean Ideophones. PhD dissertation, Indiana University.Google Scholar
Lee, Ki-Moon
1958 A comparative study of Manchu and Korean. Ural-altaische Jahrbücher 30: 104–120.Google Scholar
1964 Mongolian loan-words in Middle Korean. Ural-altaische Jahrbücher 35: 188–197.Google Scholar
1972 Kwukesa kaysel (Outline of the History of the Korean Language), 2nd edn. Seoul: Tower Press.Google Scholar
Lee, Ki-Moon & Ramsey, S. Robert
2011 A History of the Korean Language. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lee, Yongsung
1993 Topics in the Vowel Phonology of Korean. PhD dissertation, Indiana University.Google Scholar
Li, Bing
1996 Tungusic Vowel Harmony: Description and Analysis [HIL Dissertations 18]. Leiden: Holland Institute of Generative Linguistics.Google Scholar
Lindau, Mona
1979 The feature expanded. Journal of Phonetics 7: 163–176.Google Scholar
Lulich, Steven & Whaley, Lindsay
2012 An acoustic phonetic study of Oroqen vowels. In Recent advances in Tungusic Languages [Turcologica 89], Andrej Malchukov & Lindsay Whaley (eds), 59–78. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Martin, Samuel E
1996 Consonant Lenition in Korean. Honolulu HI: University of Hawaii Press.Google Scholar
2000 How have Korean vowels changed through time? Korean Linguistics 10: 1–59. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Maslova, Elena
2003 A Grammar of Kolyma Yukaghir. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Möömöö, Sürèngijn
1977 Sistema fonem sovremennogo mongol’skogo jazyka (The Phoneme System of Modern Mongolian). Warszawa: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego.Google Scholar
Nevins, Andrew
2010 Locality in Vowel Harmony [Linguistic Inquiry Monograph 55]. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nikolaeva, Irina
2006 A Historical Dictionary of Yukaghir. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nikolaeva, Irina Alekseevna & Tolskaya, Maria
2001 A Grammar of Udihe [Mouton Grammar Library 22]. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Novikova, K.A
1960 Ocherki dialektov Evenskogo jazyka: Ol’skij govor, Vol. 1. Leningrad: Nauka.Google Scholar
Park, Jong-Hee
1983 Kwuke umwunlon yenkwu (A Study on Korean Phonology). Iksan: Wonkwang University Press.Google Scholar
1994 Cwunglipmoum /i/-uy poncilkwa moumcohwa (The nature of the neutral vowel /i/ and vowel harmony). In Wulimal yenkwuuy saymthe, 134–153. Daejeon: Mwunkyeng Press.Google Scholar
2002 Cwungsengmoum /i/-uy thwumyengsengkwa pwulthwumyengseng (The transparency and opacity of the neutral vowel /i/ in Middle Korean). Hangeul 257: 71–101.Google Scholar
Park, Jong-Hee & Kwon, Pyong-Ro
2009 Moumcheykyeyuy pyenchenkwa cacilkyelhap coken (The change of vowel system and featural combination conditions in Middle Korean). Kwukemwunhak 47: 37–61.Google Scholar
Poppe, Nicholas N
1955 Introduction to Mongolian Comparative Studies. Helsinki: Suomalais-ugrilainen Seura.Google Scholar
1960 Vergleichende Grammatik der altaischen Sprachen, Teil I: Vergleichende Lautlehre (Comparative grammar of the Altaic languages, Part 1: comparative phonology). Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Przezdziecki, Marek
2005 Vowel Harmony and Coarticulation in Three Dialects of Yoruba: Phonetics Determining Phonology. PhD dissertation, Cornell University.Google Scholar
Rice, Keren
2007 Markedness in phonology. In The Cambridge Handbook of Phonology, Paul de Lacy (ed.), 79–98. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Robbeets, Martine. I
2005 Is Japanese Related to Korean, Tungusic, Mongolic and Turkic? [Turcologica 64]. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Shibatani, Masayoshi
1990 The Languages of Japan. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Shiraishi, Hidetoshi & Botma, Bert
2013 Asymmetries and attractors in Nivkh vowel sequences. Ms, Sapporo Gakuin University and Leiden University.Google Scholar
Starostin, Sergei A., Dybo, Anna V. & Mudrak, Oleg A
2003 Etymological Dictionary of the Altaic Languages [Handbuch der Orientalistik VIII.8.1–3]. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Steriade, Donca
1995 Underspecification and markedness. In The Handbook of Phonological Theory, John A. Goldsmith (ed), 114–174. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Sunik, O.P
1968 Udėgejskij jazyk (Udihe language). In Jazyki narodov SSSR (Languages of the Peoples of the USSR) 5: 210–232. Leningrad: Nauka.Google Scholar
Svantesson, Jan-Olof
1985 Vowel harmony shift in Mongolian. Lingua 67: 283–327. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Svantesson, Jan-Olof, Tsendina, Anna, Karlsson, Anastasia M. & Franzén, Vivan
2005 The Phonology of Mongolian. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Titov, Je. I
1926 Tungussko-russkij slovar’s priloženijem knigi M. A. Kastrena “Osnovy izučenija tungusskogo jazyka”. Irkutsk.Google Scholar
Tsintsius, Vera
1949 Sravnitel’naja fonetika tunguso-man’chzhurskikh jazykov (Comparative Phonetics of the Manchu-Tungus Languages). Leningrad: Nauka.Google Scholar
1975–1977 Sravnitel’nyj slovar’ tunguso-man’chzhurskikh jazykov (Comparative Dictionary of the Manchu-Tungus Languages). Leningrad: Nauka.Google Scholar
van der Hulst, Harry & van de Weijer, Jeroen
1995 Vowel harmony. In The Handbook of Phonological Theory, John A. Goldsmith (ed), 495–534. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Vaux, Bert
2009 [atr] and [back] harmony in the Altaic languages. In Investigations into Formal Altaic Linguistics: Proceedings of WAFL3, Sergei Tatevosov (ed), 50–67. Moscow: MAKS Press.Google Scholar
Vovin, Alexander
2000 On the Great Vowel Shift in Middle Korean and position of stress in Proto-Korean. Korean Linguistics 10: 61–78. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zhang, Xi
1996 Vowel Systems of the Manchu-Tungus Languages of China. PhD dissertation, University of Toronto.Google Scholar
Zhang, Xi & Dresher, B. Elan
2004 Tongue root harmony in Written Manchu. In Proceedings of the First International Conference on Manchu-Tungus Studies (Bonn, August 28-September 1, 2000), Vol 2: Trends in Tungusic and Siberian Linguistics, Carsten Naeher, Giovanni Stary & Michael Weiers (eds), 161–190. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 8 other publications

Bugaeva, Anna
2015. Causative constructions in Ainu: A typological perspective with remarks on the diachrony. STUF - Language Typology and Universals 68:4 ► pp. 439 ff. DOI logo
Janhunen, Juha A.
2023. The Unity and Diversity of Altaic. Annual Review of Linguistics 9:1 ► pp. 135 ff. DOI logo
Nikolsky, Aleksey
2020. “Talking Jew’s Harp” and Its Relation to Vowel Harmony as a Paradigm of Formative Influence of Music on Language. In The Origins of Language Revisited, ► pp. 217 ff. DOI logo
Shiraishi, Hidetoshi & Bert Botma
2017. On the diachronic origin of Nivkh height restrictions. In Sonic Signatures [Language Faculty and Beyond, 14], ► pp. 202 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2018. List of abbreviations. In Grammaticalization from a Typological Perspective, ► pp. ix ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2018. Preface. In Grammaticalization from a Typological Perspective, ► pp. viii ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2018. Series preface. In Grammaticalization from a Typological Perspective, ► pp. vii ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2018. Copyright Page. In Grammaticalization from a Typological Perspective, ► pp. iv ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 6 june 2023. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.