Reference: Donohue, Mark. 2002. “Which Sounds Change: Descent and Borrowing in the Skou Family.” Oceanic Linguistics 41 (1): 171–221. https://doi.org/10.1353/ol.2002.0018.
DOI: 10.1353/ol.2002.0018
Transcribed by: Darren
Reviewed by: bradrn
Ordering: ☆☆☆
Exhaustivity: ★☆☆
Detail: ★☆☆
Consensus: ★★★
Transcription: ★★★
Transcription conventions: (where different to IPA)
| Symbol | Likely IPA | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| *j | [ɟ] | (unclear from source) Listed amongst the voiced stops and later described as a “palatal stop” |
| j | [ɟ] | (unclear from source) |
| *y | [j] | (unclear from source) Listed alongside other sonorants |
| y | [j] | (unclear from source) |
| *ɵ | [ɵ~ɨ~ø~ʉ~ʏ] | ‘The sound represented by *ɵ is, in most of the languages that reflect it, variable between [ɵ], [ɨ], [ø], and sometimes even [ʉ] ... In Skou the reflex of this sound ... varies between [ø] and [ʏ].’ |
Source: [donohueWhichSoundsChange2002]
Consonant inventory:
| *p | *t | *k | *kʷ | ||
| *b | *d | *j | *g | *gʷ | |
| *m | *n | *ŋ | |||
| *f | *s | *h | |||
| *l | *y | (*w) |
Vowel inventory:
| *i | *ʉ | *u |
| *e | *ɵ | *o |
| *ɛ | *ɔ | |
| *a |
Suprasegmentals:
| Features | Notes |
|---|---|
| high low fall | ‘A three- or four-way contrast in pitch is present on monosyllables in all languages—High (H), Low (L) and Fall (HL)— so it seems reasonable to posit at least these tonal contrasts in the protolanguage.’ However, Donohue does ‘not refer to the tones of lexical items’ in his reconstruction. |
| [±nasal] | ‘It seems more likely [...] that there was a nasality contrast in Proto-Skou on all syllables regardless of their onset’ |
Source: [donohueWhichSoundsChange2002]
Source: [donohueWhichSoundsChange2002]
Source: [donohueWhichSoundsChange2002]