On the reconstruction of Proto-Mari vocalism

Ante Aikio (University of Oulu (Finland), ante.aikio@oulu.fi)

Journal of Language Relationship, № 11, 2014 - p.125-158

Abstract: Two different theories regarding the Proto-Mari vowel system have been put forward by Erkki Itkonen and Gábor Bereczki. This paper critically evaluates these theories and aims to establish a solidly argued reconstruction of Proto-Mari initial-syllable vocalism. It is argued that 11 distinct vowel phonemes must be reconstructed for Proto-Mari, as opposed to 13 reconstructed by Itkonen and 7 reconstructed by Bereczki.

Keywords: Uralic languages, Mari language, language reconstruction, historical phonetics

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