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jul 25, 2025
Abstract
This study adopts an acoustic and statistical approach to investigate vowel lowering in Aymara spoken in Chile, and, if present, to determine whether it is a coarticulatory or allophonic phenomenon. The results indicate that, in line with previous research, high vowels /i/ and /u/ are articulated as [e] and [o], respectively, when they occur after uvular consonants. Additionally, according to our data, this phenomenon also occurs with the vowel /a/. The analyses support an interpretation whereby vowel lowering has an allophonic character and is not merely articulatory. For this reason, we propose adding [a̞] as an allophone of /a/ to the sound system of Aymara spoken in Chile.
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