o/u

[Geoff Davis]

On Wed, 15 Sep 2004 09:46:35 -0500, idiez at mac.com <idiez at mac.com> wrote:
> Is there an explanation about when the "o" is pronounced with a "u"
> sound? Mario just mentioned that it is for long "o"s, but I know from
> experience that this is not so.

I was pondering over this not more than a day before you posted the
question.

Two examples I can think of, right off the top of my head, are:
cal-po:l(-li) => cal-pu:l(-li), and
teo:(-tl) => teu:(-tl).

In both of these cases the long o becomes u, although I'm not
sure as to whether the length is preserved.

This is, of course, not to say that long o always becomes u.  I had
once read that stress played some part in the change.  But, since
the stress differs in the two examples above and the vowel change
still occurs, I'm not convinced that theory holds water.

Does anyone else have any ideas?

-Geoff

P.S. I have read that this resulting u is a lax high or mid-high back
vowel, much like the "oo" in English "book."  Can anyone confirm or
deny this with certainty?