Vowel Harmony in

Earth Cultures

Serdar Can Demirci

2297471
1)Korean
2)Mongolian

Turkic Languages
1)Turkish
2)Azarbeijani
3)Tatar
4)Kazakh

Uralic Languages

1)Samoyedic
2)Hungarian
3)Mansi
4)Khanty
5)Mari
6)Erzya

Finnic Languages

1)Finnish
2)Yokuts
3)Sumerian
Others

1)Australian-Aborigin
2)Assyrian Neo-Aranaoic

Bontu Languages

1)Lingela
2)Kgalagadi
3)Malila
4)Phuthi
5)Southern Sotho
6)Nouthern Sotho
7)Tswana
8)Bezhta
9)Chucki
10)Coosan Long Vages
11)Dusun
12)Iberian

1)Japanese
2)Astur-Leanase
3)Igba
4)Italian Romanese

Nilatic Languages
1)Somali
2)Takelmi
3)Telugu
4)Tibetic
5)Utian

Korean Vowel Harmony

Korean had a strong vwel harmony,and in pre-modern orean,Not only the
inflectional and derivational suffixes changed according to the main root
vowel,but the native words were adhered to vowel harmony as well.It is not
used frequently in Modern Language,it still exists in onomatopeida,adjectives
and adverbs,interjections and conjugation.It also includes other traces of the
language.
Vowels are distrubited in 3 classes in Korean.Positive,negative and neutral.For
example,the vowel eu is partially neutral and partially negative as a
vowel.Vowel classes loosely follow negative and posiitive vowels,which they
also follow ortography.Exanching positive and negative vowels create nuances
of meaning,positive vowels sound dimunitive and negativess sound crude.
Korean Vowel Harmony

Positive/"ligh
t"/Yang ㅏ (a) ㅑ (ya) ㅗ (o) ㅛ (yo)
Vowels
ㅐ (ae) ㅘ (wa) ㅚ (oe) ㅙ (wae)
Negative/"he
avy"/Yin ㅓ (eo) ㅕ (yeo) ㅜ (u) ㅠ (yu)
Vowels
ㅔ (e) ㅝ (wo) ㅟ (wi) ㅞ (we)
Neutral/ ㅡ (eu) ㅣ (i) ㅢ (ui)
 Centre
Vowels

Examples:
Emphasized Adjectives:
노랗다(Norata=Plain Yellow) 누렇다 (nureota=Very Yellow)
Particles at the end:
잡다 (japda=means to catch)
잡았다 (Jabatda=caught)

Interjections
아이고 (aigo) and 어이구 (eoigu) =Surprise,discomfort or in some cases
sympathy

Mongolian Vowel Harmony

A characteristic of Mongolian is it’s Vowel Harmony.It’s a basic type of vowel

armony,very straightforward,and tells ust that a word can either include back
vowels or front vowels at a time,but they can not exit at the same
time.Exception of a few words,of course,since they are foreign.For example,i
sound is considered as a neutral sound,which allows it to be used in both front
and vowel situations.But it is generally considered as a froont vowel.Vowel
harmony affects y/q and g/k also,ormer is in back vowel situations whereas
latter is in front vowel situations.

Back Vowels

čaγan aγulan noyan soyul

(white) (mountain) (prince) (culture)
 ama ulaγan balai
(mouth) (red) (stupid)

As we can see,back vowel words can only include a,o and u.And except for the
stiuations where they are followed by i sound,g/k can not be used.

Front vowels

tümen
nökör
beleg (ten sedkil
(comrade
(gift) thousand (thought)
)
)

ner-e edüge ünen

(name) (now) (truth)

Front vowels include sounds like e,ö,ü and neutral i,but can not include y/q
sounds.

Front and Back vowels with’’I’’sound

yirtinčü
imaγan nidün jirγal
(universe
(goat) (eye) (bliss)
)

joriγ
irgen
(intention
(people)
)

I can occur in both front and back situations

Examples with I in ssyllables

ilbiči
bičig čikibči (magician
bilig )
(writing, (ear-
(wisdom)
book) muffs)

In syllables,i is regarded is front vocalic and suffixes that are added must also
be front vocalic.

Front vowels with G and K

köbegün
ger (boy,
kümün kejiy-e son)
(home,
(person) (when?)
ger)

Only in front vowels k and g can exist,but there are also exceptions,when k is
followed by neutral i,for example.

Turkic Languages

Turkish Vowel Harmony

1)When a word starts with a back undotted a,ı,o,u sounds,the rest of the word
also consists of these sounds.

For example;

1)Adam
2)Boyun
3)Kalın
4)Kırlangıç
5)Boyunduruk
6)Aşık

2)If the first vowel is a front dotted e,i,ü,ö,the rest of the word will also consist
of front dotted words.
Examples:
Beşik
Bebek
Gelin
Besin
Yemek

Of course,there are also some exceptions in Turkish:

Kitap
Protein
Karbonhidrat
Çikolata
İnanç
Hayalet

Some borrowed words from Persian,Arabic and Farsi can also be included in
exceptions list:

Ahenk
Pehlivan
Nişasta
Hamsi

Compound words can also be added to that list:

Açık+göz=Açıkgöz
Bilgi+sayar=Bilgisayar
Çek+yat=Çekyat

Suffixes in Turkish are unchangeable and therefore don’t follow Turkish Vowel
Harmony.

Sabahleyin
Giderken
Yeşilimtırak
Ülküdaş
Meslektaş
Sabahki
Masadaki
Yoldaki
Kitaptaki

Even if the word ends with back undotted sound,some words tend to follow
the pronounciation of the former front dotted sound.
Hakikat=Hakikati
Alkol=Alkolü
Sadakat=Sadakatimiz
I,İ Rule:
If the first vowel is from straight i or ı,then the following vowels will also be
from a,e,i,ı sounds.
Yaşlanmak
Kırık
Işın
Evrensel
Hasar
Kalkan
2)If the sounds is from straight u,ü sounds,the rest of the word will also be
from the rounded class or straight a,e sounds.
Dokunulmaz
Çocuk
Boyunduruk
Özlem
Sürmek
Güreş

Words that contain both straight and rounded sounds:

Avuç
Çamur
Susamak
Örümcek
Kabuk
Kavuşmak
Some borrowed word from Arabic,Farsi and Persian:

Aktör
Profesör
Mümin
Mühim
Kitap
Kabul

Complete Vowel Harmony Rules

A is followed by ı,a sounds

Bakar,alır

O is followed by u,a sounds

Oda,omuz

E is followed by e,i sounds

Geçer,kesir

Ö is followed by e,ü sounds

Ölçü,ödlek

I is followed by ı,a sounds

Kısır,kına
U is followed by u,a sounds
Uzun,uzak

İ is followed by i,e sounds

İrin,istek

Ü is followed by ü,e sounds

Ürün,ürkek

Azarbeijani Vowel Harmony

Vowels in Azarbeijani tend to divide into two groups.

Front(high)vowels(İnca saitler):e,i,ö,ü
Back(Low)vowels(Kalın saitler)=a,ı,o,u

Vowel harmony happesn because of the minimal effort of pronouncing the

word.For example,changing an a sound to an ı sound requires less effort than
changing a to ü,therefore a sound is generally followed by ı,and in rare cases
by ü.

High vowels are generally produced by getting the tongue near to palate,and
mouth opening is narrower than it is for low vowels.Low vowels are generally
produced by a relatively lower position.

Rules
Rule 1:Suffixes are based on vowel harmony.The last vowel in the vowel is
what determines the vowel in the suffix.If it is high,the last vowel will also be
high.If it is low,the last vowel will also be low.This rule applies to two form
suffixes.

Müəllim-sən You are a teacher.

Uşaq-san You are a child.
Ağıllı-san You are clever.
Ovçu-san You are a hunter.

The suffix –san refers to the to be in English in these sentences.

Rule 2:Applies to 4 form suffixes.

After unrounded front vowel(a,e,i)=i
After rounded front(ö,ü)=ü
After unrounded back(a,ı)=ı
After rounded back(o,u)=u
Gənc-dir. He is young.
Uşaq-dır. He is a child.
Ovçu-dur. He is a hunter.
Düz-dür. That is right.

Kazakh Vowel Harmony

Certain vowels must be followed by certain vowels in Kazakh language.Similar

to other Turkic languages,a front vowel must be followed by a front a vowel or
a low vowel must be followed by a low vowel.If the vowel has both front and
low components,you should use the vowel closest to end to determine
whether to use a suffix with front or back vowel.Every suffix has two versions
acording to this rule:One with a front,one wiith a back vowel.
Plural suffixes are added to noun according to this rule:
Words with back vowels will add +лар, +дар, or +тар: қалам+дар 'pencils'
Words with front vowels will add +лер, +дер, or +тер: дәптер+лер 'notebooks'

Tatar Vowel Harmony

Tatar doesn’t have any neutral vowels.The neutral e is only found in loanwords.Other
vowels can also exist in loanwords,but they are back vowels.Tatar language has a
rounding harmony,but it isn’t seen in writing.Vowels o and ö can be seen in the first
syllable,but the vowels they mark could bee pronounced as where a and e exist.

Front ä e i ö ü
Back a ı í o u é

Uralic Languages
Most of the Uralic Languages if not all of them show vowel harmony between front
and back vowels.

Proto-Samoyedic Vowel Harmony

Front Back
Unrounded Rounded Unrounded Rounded
Close i [i] ü [y] ï [ɯ] u [u]
Mid e [e] ö [ø] ë [ɤ] o [o]
Open ä [æ] a [ɑ] å [ɒ]
Reduced ə̈ [ə̟] ə [ə̠]

Proto-samoyedic used to have a vowel harmony just like other Uralic

Languages.Harmony determined whether a front or back vocalic allomorh of a suffix
was used.The restrictions were not absolute because also disharmonic stems can be
constructed.Such stems could break vowel harmony with combining front and back
vowels.

Hungarian Vowel Harmony

Hungarian has 14 vowels,and they are seperated into two groups.
High vowels:e, é, ö, ő, ü, ű, i, í
Low vowels: a, á, o, ó, u, ú
High words:fekete(black),eger(mouse),rovid(short),gyümölcs(fruit)
Low words=Falu(village),alacsony(low),boldog(happy)
Plural suffixes can be ok/ök/ek(rarely ak):eger-egerek
Gyümölcs-gyümölcsök
Comperative suffixes can be abb/ebb=Alacksony=alacsonabb
Rövid=rövidebb
There are also some exceptions where high and low vowels can exist
together.Piros,fiu,ceruza,szilva.Generally i vowels are combined with lowers.They
are generally seen as low vowels.
Hid-hidak(bridge-bridges)
Sziv-szivek(heart-hearts)
When words are combined,last part is relevant.
Szokincs(vocabulary,combined of szo(word) and kincs(treasure)

Khanty Vowel Harmony

In Khanty,vowel harmony exists in Eastern Dialects,and has an effect on both
inflectional and derivational suffixes.
Front/æ//ø//y//i//ɪ//ʏ/
Back/ɑ//o//u//ɯ//ʌ//ʊ/

The vowels /e/, /œ/ (front) and /ɔ/ (back) can occur in the first syllable of a
word,and don’t actively participate in vowel harmony,but they trigger it
neverthless.Vowel Harmony is lost in Northern and Southern dialects,as well as
in the Surgut Dialect.

Erzya Language

Erzya Language has a limited system of vowel harmony,involving only two

vowel sounds.Front(e) and back(o) sounds.Moksha,closest relevant of Erzya
Language,doesn’t have a phonemic vowel harmony, though /ə/ has front and
back allophones distrubition similar to Erzya.
Finnic Languages
Finnic Languages has the most vowel harmony inside them.It is lost Livonian
and Standart Estonian,but it still exists in Vöro.

Finnish Language
IN Finnish,there are 3 types of vowels.Front,back and neutral,where each front
vowel has a vowel pairing.Grammatical endings such as derivational and case
endings have only aarchiphonemic vowels(u,a,o)which are regarded as either
back or front inside a word.In vowel harmony,the inital syllable controls the
frontness and backness of an entire word.When non-initially,neutral vowels are
transparent and unaffected by vowel harmony.
In the inital syllable:
1)Back vowel causes all initial sounds to be realized with back vowels.(posahta)
2)Front vowel causes all initial sounds to be realized with front vowels.
(räjaahta)
3)A neutral vowel acts like a front,but doesn’t control frontness or
backness.If they are back vowels,the word acts like a back vowel.
(Sihahtaa)
Examples:
Kaura=kauralla
Kuori=Kuorella
Tuotte=tuoetteessa
Kera=Keralla
Compounds can also be considered as seperate words according to
vowel harmony.Syyskuu(autumn month)has both y and u,but consists of
two words syy and skuu.If fusion takes place,vowel iis harmonized by
some speakers, tällainen ← tämän lainen
Some stems in Finnish contain only neutral vowels exhibit an
alternating pattern in terms of vowel harmony.
Examples:Meri(sea)
Merassa(in the sea)
Merta(partitive)
Veri(blood)
Verasta(from the blood)

Yokuts Vowel Harmony

Vowel Harmony exists in all Yokuts Languages.For example,Yawelmani

has 4 vowels than can be listed in the table below.
Rounded
Unrounded
High i u
Low a ɔ

Vowels that appear in u or non-u counterpart or with or with /ɔ/ or non-/ɔ/

counterparts.For example,vvowel in the aorist appears as u when following u
in the root,but when followeing other vowels it is seen as i. Similarly, the vowel
in the nondirective gerundial suffix appears as /ɔ/ when it follows a ɔ in the
root,otherwise it is seen as a.

-hun/-hin (aorist suffix)

muṭhun [muʈhun] 'swear (aorist)'
giy̓hin [ɡijˀhin] 'touch (aorist)'
gophin [ɡɔphin] 'take of infant (aorist)'
xathin [xathin] 'eat (aorist)'
(nondirective gerundial
-tow/-taw
suffix)
'take care of infant
goptow [ɡɔptɔw]
(nondir. ger.)'
giy̓taw [ɡijˀtaw] 'touch (nondir. ger.)'
muṭtaw [muʈtaw] 'swear (nondir. ger.)'
xattaw [xatːaw] 'eat (nondir. ger.)'
Also,there is a system called Harmony Restriction.In a stem with more thn one
syllable are required to be same lip rounding and tongue height dimension.For
instance,a stem must contain only high rounded vowels or low rounded
vowels.This restriction gets complicated with i long high vowels lowered and
an epenthetic vowel i does not harmonize with stems.

Sumerian Vowel Harmony

According to vowel heighht there are signs for Vowel Harmony in the prefix
i3/e- in inscription from Pre Sargonic Lagash.Many cases of partial or
Complete assimilation of the vowel of certain prefixes and suffixes in adjecent
syllable are reflected in writing in some of the later period,which makes there
is a noticeable but not absolute tendency for dsyllabic stems to have same
vowel in stems.
What appears to be vowel contraction in hiatus (*/aa/, */ia/, */ua/ > a, */ae/ >
a, */ue/ > u, etc.)

https://wikivisually.com/wiki/Vowel_harmony
http://www.linguamongolia.com/vhar1.html
https://languagecanvas.com/free/kaz1/kaz1_10/intro/intro.htm
https://azerbaijanilanguage.wordpress.com/2010/08/26/vowel-harmony-law-
2/
https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/17406200/Hungarian-vowel-harmony