Vowel systems of the Manchu-Tungus languages of China

Abstract

This dissertation presents a study of the vowel phonology of the Manchu-Tungus languages of China--Manchu, Xibe, Hezhen, Oroqen and Ewenki. The Manchu-Tungus languages belong to the Altaic family. By comparing the Written Manchu (Classical Manchu) harmony system with the vowel systems of spoken Manchu. Manchu-related Xibe and Hezhen, and other Tungusic languages. I argue that the vowel system of Written Manchu is a tongue root system, solving the controversy about the harmony pattern of this language. With the tongue root system assumption, other aspects of the vowel phonology of written Manchu, including its diphthong systems and vowel-related consonant alternations, are very well explained. Based on first-hand materials, the dissertation offers a detailed description and explanation of the vowel phonology of the Oroqen language, including its vowel system, harmony patterns, palatalization and labialization caused by vowels, and constraints on vowel length. The thesis proposes a syllable condition on labial harmony in Written Manchu and Oroqen of a type that has not been previously noticed in the study of vowel harmony. I compare the vowel systems and harmony patterns of the whole Manchu-Tungus language group. I conclude, from both synchronic and diachronic perspectives, that the change from a system with tongue root contrasts to a system with height contrasts is a natural process, providing support to the proposal that the proto-harmony system of the Tungusic languages is one with tongue root harmony. Within the framework of contrastive specification, I argue that the phonological processes of vowels in the Manchu-Tungue languages of China are based on the underlying representations of segments, which are determined by the contrasts in the inventory. I present harmony patterns of the Manchu-Tungus languages in China in a systematic way. The approximately three hundred cognate words of these languages that I collected make available a comparative study of the Manchu-Tungus languages as a whole. Sociolinguistic aspects of the Manchu-Tungus languages of China, as well as the linguistic features of these languages discussed in the dissertation, help to make a correct classification of the languages of the whole Tungusic group.

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