East-A Altaic'

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A more conservativ subfamily of East Altaic', spoken in NW Himalayas.

Some sound changes from Proto-East Altaic':

  • loss of contrastiv labialization in uvulars
  • labialized velars → labial-velars
  • ɜ → ʌ
  • æ, ɑ → ɑ̵
  • ʊ → o
  • fricativ voicing
  • retroflex loss: ʈ ʂ ʐ → q x r (probably occurs in phases — ʈ → q appears to be the oldest change)

A typical phoneme system is (phonemes only occuring in few languages in parentheses):

Labial Dental /
alveolar
Post-
alveolar
Velar Labial-
velar
Uvular /
glottal
Voiceless stops p t ʧ k kp q
Voiced stops b d ʤ ɡ ɡb
Voiceless fricativs (f) s ʃ x h
Voiced fricativs v z ʒ (ɣ)
Nasals m n ŋ ŋm
Approximants l r       j w
Front Lax Back
Hi i ɪ u
Mid e ʌ o
Lo a ~ ɑ