Proto-Uto-Aztecan language

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The Proto-Uto-Aztecan language (abbreviated PUA; also sometimes Uto-Aztekan, Utoaztekan) is the hypothetical common ancestor of the Uto-Aztecan languages.

1 History
2 Phonology
- 2.1 Vowels
- 2.2 Consonants
3 Grammar
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

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[edit] Phonology

[edit] Vowels

Proto-Uto-Aztecan is reconstructed as having an unusual five-vowel system: *i *a *u *o *ɨ. Langacker (1970) demonstrated that the fifth vowel should be reconstructed as *ɨ as opposed to *e—there had been a long-running dispute over the proper reconstruction (Campbell 1997:136).

[edit] Consonants

	Bilabial	Coronal	Palatal	Velar	Labialized velar	Glottal
Stop	*p	*t		*k	*kʷ	*ʔ
Affricate		*c
Fricative		*s				*h
Nasal	*m	*n		*ŋ
Rhotic		*r
Semivowel			*y		*w

Note that in Americanist phonetic notation, <c> and <y> are equivalent to IPA /ts͡/ and /j/, respectively. *n and *ŋ may have actually been *l and *n, respectively.

[edit] Grammar

Please help improve this section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.

[edit] References

Campbell, Lyle (1997). American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Langacker, Ronald W. (1970). "The Vowels of Proto Uto-Aztecan". International Journal of American Linguistics 36 (3): 169–180. doi:10.1086/465108.