Vowels of the Shor language in postposition to mollis consonants

The problem of vowel harmony has long attracted the attention of linguistic researchers, as it acts as a system-forming principle that determines the phonetic structure of a word form through the relationship between vowels and consonants. There are different points of view on the nature of vowel harmony. Most often, a parallel is drawn between synharmonism and vowel harmony (labial, palatal, compact and pharyngeal). However, there are works in which consonantism is put first, in others – both aspects. This article discusses palatal vowel harmony because it has been the subject of most discussion in recent times. Using the linguistic material of the Shor language, a number of points related to the distribution of consonants and vowels across the palatal rows are studied: how do mollis consonants behave (traditionally palatal and palatalized, which are accompanied by an acoustic effect of softness), and also what qualitative articulations in the oral cavity (row and rise) the vocal settings acquire in postposition to them. It was established that there is no validity for dividing into front and back rows between soft-row and hard-row vowels in postposition to mollis consonants, respectively. In both synharmonic series, vocal settings are qualitatively modulated in the anterior and middle parts of the oral cavity. As, in fact, there is no difference between mollistic consonants. In the Shor language, in hard-row words in the phonetic chain “mollis consonant + vowel + velarized or guttural consonant”, a duphone is recorded, in which the first component in the articulatory plan harmonizes with a soft prepositive consonant, and the second one is with a postpositive hard one. In case of incorrect transition, an accent is felt, which is related to orthophony. This factor should be taken into account when teaching the Shor language. The results of the study will serve as a basis for the analysis and description of other languages. It has been established by the perceptual method that palatal vowel harmony is associated with changes in the larynx: when pronouncing hard-row words in the larynx, or more precisely in the laryngeal cavity located between the false vocal folds and the aryepiglottic folds, muscle tension occurs in the anterior part, directed into the cavity, and on both sides – compression of extension. As a result of such articulation, the sounds of the entire word acquire a “hard” coloring, which for native speakers of the Shor language is a marker of hard row. When pronouncing soft row words, compression of extension does not occur. This observation requires special experimental phonetic research. 

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