proto-southwestern-tai revised: a new reconstruction - seals 22

208 Bradley McDonnell
The six vowel phonemes in Ende show a distinction between the five basic vowels
/i, e, a, o, u/ and the epenthetic mid-central vowel [�]. There are several reasons for this
distinction. First, the mid-central vowel is phonetically shorter than all other vowels and
never takes stress or prominence in the root or the word. Secondly, the mid-central vowel
is limited in its distribution; it only occurs between two consonants. This means that 1) the
mid-central vowel cannot occur in vowel sequences, which is not true of any of the other
basic vowels, and 2) the mid-central vowel cannot occur without an initial glottal stop,
which again is possible for all other vowels. Lastly, the schwa is limited to the first
syllable of bisyllabic words as well as the numeral proclitic sa /s�/ and the prepositional
proclitic pa /p�/; that is, it is disallowed in the ultimate syllable. On the other hand, the
five basic vowels occur in all possible nucleus positions in syllables.
2.1.2.1 The /i/
The high front unrounded vowel /i/ contrasts with the four other basic vowels and the
schwa.
/i/ ~ /u/ mesi /m�si/ ‘salty’ mesu /m�su/ ‘to fall’
/i/ ~ /e/ moki /moki/ ‘mouth’ moké /moke/ ‘palm wine’
/i/ ~ [�] mité /mite/ ‘black’ meta /m�ta/ ‘unripe’
/i/ ~ /a/ weti /w�ti/ ‘to chew sirih’ weta /w�ta/ ‘sister’
/i/ ~ /o/ kérhi /ke�i/ ‘mountain’ kerho /k��o/ ‘to forget’
2.1.2.2 The /u/
The high back rounded vowel /u/ shows contrast with the other basic vowels in and the
schwa.
/u/ ~ /e/ té'u /teɁu/ ‘rat’ té'é /teɁe/ ‘mat’
/u/ ~ [�] muta /muta/ ‘vomit’ meta /m�ta/ ‘unripe’
/u/ ~ /a/ 'əmbu /Ɂəmbu/ ‘elder’ 'émba /Ɂemba/ ‘where’
/u/ ~ /o/ rembu /ɾ�mbu/ ‘finish’ rembo /ɾ�mbo/ ‘fat’
2.1.2.3 The /e/
The mid front unrounded vowel /e/ contrasts with the basic vowels and the schwa.
/e/ ~ [�] méré /meɾe/ ‘big’ meré /m�re/ ‘tight’
/e/ ~ /a/ kéré /keɾe/ ‘different’ kéra /keɾa/ ‘turtle’
/e/ ~ /o/ arhé /a�e/ ‘to ask’ arho /a�o/ ‘orphan’