Vowel Harmony

Abstract

Abstract Vowel harmony systems occur in a wide range of Armenian dialects, from Marash in Turkey to Maragha in Iran to Shamaxi in Azerbaijan. These harmonic systems constrain specifications for the feature [back] (and occasionally [round] as well) within two phonological domains: roots and words. A third, local, type of harmony applies to epenthetic vowels. The dialects in (la) show root harmony, according to which roots can possess no more than one contrastive specification for [back]. This harmony type is examined in 5.2. In group (lb), the same restriction on contrastive [back] specifications applies to the entire word; this harmony type is discussed in 5.3. Epenthetic harmony, which always involves both [back] and [round], occurs in the dialects in (le). This type of harmony, which differs from the other harmony types in being strictly local, is considered separately in 5.4.