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A revised reconstruction of the Proto-Tupian vowel system

O sistema vocálico do Proto-Tupi: uma nova proposta reconstrutiva

Abstract

This contribution is concerned with the reconstruction of the vowel qualities of Proto-Tupian, the ancestral language of the Tupian language family. The study is grounded in a bottom-up application of the comparative method and seeks to offer a more balanced reconstruction that avoids an overreliance on the Tupí-Guaraní branch. It is first shown that the height opposition traditionally reconstructed for the rounded vowel series (*o vs. *u) is best interpreted as an opposition between an unrounded vowel and a rounded one ( vs. *o). It is also argued that multiple instances of *e in the traditional reconstruction should be rather attributed to . Finally, it is shown that two vowels (symbolized as and ) must be reconstructed in lieu of the traditional . The resulting proposal has consequences for the subgrouping of the Tupian family.

Keywords
Tupian languages; Comparative reconstruction; Vowels; Sound change

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