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Can you read the following sentence? Ds ths mk sns? Hint: Add some vowels Does this make sense? Where did the vowels go? For speakers of other languages a lack of vowels may be normal. I am talking about you, Arabic … Continue readi...
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Those who think the interchange of mid and high vowels in Kazan Tatar is amusing might enjoy these examples from North Saami. In this language, low and high vowels (a and ä at one end and i at the other) swapped places in secondary ... Read Post

The phenomenon of vowel rotation in Volga Tatar – the reduction of original high vowels and the raising of original mid vowels to fill their place – is evident to anyone who knows any other Turkic language. In fact, especially troub... Read Post

(Warning: This post assumes some knowledge of Arabic, although you should be able to follow the argument even without it.) Everyone knows that Classical Arabic has three short vowels (a, i, u) and three long (?, ?, ?). But is this t... Read Post