1982/01/01 by Paul Proulx · 2 citations
Arts and Humanities · Mathematics · #Linguistics and Cultural Studies #Linguistics and language evolution #Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies #Vowel #Linguistics #Mid vowel #Mathematics #Art #Speech recognition #Computer science #Philosophy
paper · pdf · doi:10.17161/kwpl.1808.3621
openalex publication_date 1982/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02
During recent fieldwork on Yurok,1 I collected several examples of a sound-symbolic process we may call 'retroflection', by which the vowels of stems--and optionally the accompanying inflectional elements--are pronounced with retroflection of the tongue. 2 The effect is most noticeable on open vowels, which merge to e ([er]). There are many retroflexed stems lacking unretroflexed counterparts, and falling into no obvious semantic class. Where minimal pairs have been found, however, the retroflexed form generally has diminutive meaning. 'I hide it' 'I hide food or drink' 'a smiling face' 'the smiling face of a baby or pet animal' 'I'm mean' 'I'm touchy' 'I taste it (e.g., a spoonful)' 'I barely taste it (e.g., by touching it and putting my finger to my tongue)' 'mink' 'ermine, weasel' 'it's slender' 'it's thread-like' 'large storage basket (for grain, etc.)' 'small fancy basket (for valuables, etc.)' 'you wash your face' 'you sprinkle your face' 'I smell it' 'I get a whiff of it' In all cases the unretroflexed form of the stem contains an e, so the process may be thought of as an alternation of e to e plus regular vowel harmony.3 This finding has implications for the reconstruction of Proto-Algic (Algonquian-Wiyot-Yurok).