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<TITLE>Re: o/u</TITLE>
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<P>Well over 100 years ago Franz Boaz wrote an article, "On Alternating Sounds,"
that dealt with this issue (the language he dealt with was Inuit, I think, but
the principle is the same). Ears that are trained to hear the distinction
between Spanish o and u, but not trained to pick out the Nahuatl o and o:
sounds, will sometimes hear the Nahuatl vowel as Spanish o and sometimes as
Spanish u. The distinction between the two tells us something about the
listener, but not about Nahuatl.</P>
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