Vowel quality and vowel harmony in Kera (a Chadic language)
What is it about?
This is a study of the vowel quality in short vowels in Kera, a Chadic language spoken in Chad. As in most languages, short vowels have a "reduced" quality, all sounding rather similar. However, when there is vowel harmony going on (i.e. some agreement between the vowels as to which ones can appear together), then the intended quality is retained, even if the vowel is short.
Why is it important?
This pattern of retaining the vowel quality where there is vowel harmony is probably repeated in a number of languages, so research into other languages may be fruitful. It is also of interest why it is happening. The suggestion is that vowel harmony is used to mark boundaries of words, which aids the listener in understanding what they are hearing, but vowel harmony needs clear vowels for it to be detected. Therefore the speaker makes more effort to be clear when it might affect understanding.