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Positional Neutralization - Linguistics - University of California ...

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ack” (Kroeger 1992: 280). Kroeger even refers to it as “the neutral vowel” in<br />

Kimaragang. None <strong>of</strong> this is unexpected, though, in light <strong>of</strong> a second consideration: the<br />

historical source <strong>of</strong> /o/ in most cases in the languages in question is *PAN // (Robert<br />

Blust, p.c.).<br />

While the system <strong>of</strong> realizations <strong>of</strong> the pretonic vowels differ significantly among<br />

some <strong>of</strong> the languages in question, Timugon Murut shares with Dusunic Kimaragang its<br />

distribution <strong>of</strong> [o] in the penultimate and final syllables (Kroeber 1992). This is the older<br />

part <strong>of</strong> the system, the pretonic harmony being secondary. It is the development <strong>of</strong> this<br />

part <strong>of</strong> the system, additionally, which gives the lie to the assumption that the final is in<br />

some way prosodically stronger than the tonic, or that rounding has some need to be<br />

anchored to the word edge (as Walker argues for Oroqen). Facts <strong>of</strong> the emergence <strong>of</strong> the<br />

distribution <strong>of</strong> [o] in these positions are the following (*PAN and *Proto-Malayo-<br />

Polynesian reconstructions from Blust 1999, 2000, Dusunic Tatana’ forms from<br />

Pekkanen 1993, Kadazan/Dusun from Miller 1993): *PAN // becomes /o/ regularly in<br />

final syllables.<br />

(23) *PAN // in the Murutic and Dusunic final syllables<br />

*PMP tanm > TM tanom ‘plant’<br />

*PAN qaNb > Tatana’ aob ‘door’<br />

*PAN Sips > Tatana’ lipos ‘cockroach’<br />

*PMP nipn > Tatana’ dipon ‘tooth’<br />

183

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