Re: Vowel harmony part 2

On Mon, 23 Jun 2003 14:11:52 +0200, =?iso-8859-1?Q?J=F6rg=20Rhiemeier?=
<joerg_rhiemeier@...> wrote:

>I have seen the same vowel system in a reconstruction of Proto-Uralic,
>so there is nothing wrong with it, I think.  Nicely done.
>
>Jörg.
It's funny that you say that, because I came up with that system by trying
to reconstruct a very early stage of Pre/Proto-Uralic!  Pekka Samallahti, a
professor of Uralic linguistics, reconstructed the following vowel system
for Proto-Uralic:

Stressed:                           Unstressed:

i ü        ï u                      i          ï
e            o
ä            a                      ä          a

I discovered that this could come from a triangular i-a-u system by the
sound changes I mentioned above, and analogical formations with the
introduction of vowel harmony.  Under Samallahti's system, some kind of
levelling then occurred among the unstressed vowels.

Where did you see the reconstruction of Proto-Uralic that you mentioned?

- Rob