Ca’ Foscari Japanese Studies

Series | Ca’ Foscari Japanese Studies
Edited book | Philological and Linguistic Analysis Working Together
Chapter | Reflexes of Proto-Ryukyuan Mid Vowels in Haedong Chegukki

Reflexes of Proto-Ryukyuan Mid Vowels in Haedong Chegukki

Abstract

Thorpe (1983, 31) reconstructed only two mid vowels in Proto-Ryukyuan: *e and *o. He also reconstructed nonphonemic aspiration before nonhigh vowels in a daughter of PR, Proto-Amami-Okinawan. Serafim and Shinzato (2021) build upon his reconstruction, positing intermediate stages between it and their phonetic interpretation of the Old Okinawan of the Omoro sōshi. However, an examination of the earlier stage of Okinawan recorded in Haedong chegukki reveals that (1) Proto-Ryukyuan had *əj and *a(ː)j in addition to *e and (2) aspiration before nonhigh vowels was still in progress as late as the fifteenth century CE.


Open access

Submitted: Sept. 22, 2023 | Accepted: March 12, 2024 | Published Aug. 28, 2024 | Language: en

Keywords VowelsHaedong chegukkiOkinawanAspirationRyukyuan


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