NACAL 44 – University of Texas at Austin Marijn van Putten The Secondary Origins of the Berber e Vowel Leiden University 1 The Secondary Origins of the Berber e Vowel Marijn van Putten, PhD (Leiden University) Proto-Berber vowels Proto-Berber has 4 plain vowels and 2 (or 3) short central vowels (Prasse 1990):  Plain: *a, *i, *u and *e  Short central:*ă and *ə (< *ĭ, *ŭ, see Kossmann 1999: 42-59) Loss of Proto-Berber *ʔ leads to many secondary plain vowels (Kossmann 2001). Pan-Berber rules: *əʔə > ə, *ăʔə > e, *əʔă > Ʃ Accented Unaccented Accented Unaccented Tashelhiyt, Tamazight and Kabyle Ghadames & Nefusi *ʔᄂăᄃ > ƞ *ăʔ > ə *ʔᄂăᄃ > o *ăʔ >ă *əʔ > ə *əʔ > ə Tuareg Zenatic (Figuig, Mzabi, Ouargli, etc.) *ʔC > a *ăʔ >ă *ʔC > a *ăʔ > ə *ʔă > ă *əʔ > ə *ʔă > ə *əʔ > ə *ʔ# > a *ʔ# > u *ʔ is retained in Zenaga. Plain vowel system (*a, *e, *i, *u) is asymmetrical. This is not impossible, but warrants further examination. There are signs that *e is secondary: *e is fairly rare, and seems to be an allophone of *a in the noun prefixes. *e in the Noun prefixes Most Berber nouns have a prefix, with ƿǂƺ ‘ƾƿƞƿƣƾ’ ᄬ~ơƞƾƣᄭ. Free Annexed m.sg. *a- *ƾă- m.pl. *i- *yə- (<*ƾĭ?ᄃ f.sg. *ta- *ƻă- f.pl. *ti-/tə- *tə- Most nouns have a-vowels in the free state: *a-ƹăƧƞǁ ‘Ƹƞƹ’, *ta-funas-t ‘ơƺǂ’, ƣƿơ. Bǀƿ ƞ ƾǀƟƾƣƿ Ʃƞƾ e-vowels, e.g. *e-ɣăǁăƹ ‘ǁƞllƣDŽ, ƽiǁƣƽ’ > Tuareg eɣăšăƹ, Tashl. iɣzr. *te-ƲăƹƹƢƺ-t ‘kƹƺƿ’ > Tǀƞƽƣƨ ƻƢƲăƹƹƢƺƻ, Tashl. tikrrist Prasse (1972-4ᄭ ƾƩƺǂƾ Tǀƞƽƣƨ’ƾ ƻƽƣƤiǃƣƾ ƞƽƣ ƻƩƺƹƣƿiơƞllDŽ ơƺƹƢiƿiƺƹƣƢ. Vƞƹ Pǀƿƿƣƹ ᄬᇴᇲᇳ6ᄭ ƤƺƽƸǀlƞƿƣƾ ƞ Ƹƺƽƣ precise conditioning and shows that it is Pan-Berber: Prefix vowel shifts to e if followed by *ă or *e and if no vowel *a, *i or *u follows later in the word.