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Vowel harmony in Mongolian

 

  • seven vowels i, e, a, o, O, u, ʊ. Classified as :
    • non-pharyngeal/ATR: e, u, o
    • pharyngeal/non-ATR: a, ʊ, O.
  • i -- neutral (pronunciation differs in pharyngeal vs non-pharyngeal words)-- allophones-- transcribed as i (in non-pharyngeal words) or I (pharyngeal)

Harmony:

  1. Rounding
  2. ATR

Initial phonemes: specified. Non-initial: archiphonemes: /i/, /U/, /E/

Alternations:

• /E/: /e/, /a/, /o/, /O/ (ATR, rounding)

• /U/: /u/, /ʊ/ (ATR)


ATR

** /i/ in the initial syllable forces the following vowels in the non-compound word to be [+ATR]. Otherwise: if it comes between two vowels, doesn't block harmony (transparent, not opaque)

Otherwise:

  • Trigger vowels: o, O, u, ʊ, a, e (in initial positions)

  • Target vowels: Archiphonemes /E/ and /U/


Rounding

If initial vowel = /u/ or /ʊ/, then following: compulsarily unrounded (e, a)

** /u/ and /ʊ/-- not affected by rounding harmony, + block it if they come between trigger and target (opaque) (make the following vowel compulsoriy unrounded-- e,a)

Otherwise:

  • Trigger vowels: /o/, /O/

  • Target vowels: Archiphoneme /E/

 


** Noninitial /i/ in Mongolian is transparent, i.e., it is completely ignored by vowel harmony


Rounding harmony:

Only concerns open vowels (e, a, o, O)

o and O -- can occur freely in the initial syllable

In non-initial syllable: o and O can occur ONLY if the initial vowel is also round and low, i.e. the same (o or O).

But not the other way round: Not the case that if the first vowel is o or O, the following ones obligatorily have to be round. They can be anything. But not quite 'anything', there's a catch:

o can be followed by anything (anything non-pharyngeal, i.e. /e/), but O cannot be followed by /a/. So O can only be followed by O (among the open vowels; not concerned with high vowels here)

i --> transparent for rounding harmony

if there is an u or U, any open vowels following them must be non-round (parallel to how any vowel following /i/ must be non-pharyngeal)