Ogbami languages: Difference between revisions

The Velar-Uvular hypothesis, in opposition to the North-South hypothesis, tends to focus more on specific phonetic categories rather than geographical sprachbund. This hypothesis splits the Ogbami languages into two categories: Velar, which contains languages like Chub, Aoyého', Tsansi and Yañgo, and Uvular, which contains languages like Gnu, Ichaéno and Owhenda. As is implied in the name, '''Velar Ogbami''' languages tend to feature more prominently velar sounds like /k/, /g/, /x/ and occasionally /ɣ/ or /ɫ~ʟ/. These sounds generally correspond to Proto-Ogbami ''*k'', ''*g'', ''*x'', ''*s̪'' and ''*-l''. '''Uvular Ogbami''' languages seem to not only preserve most of the aforementioned Proto-Ogbami sounds, but also copy and shift them to an uvular realisation, with Proto-Ogbami final ''*k'' and ''*x'' often shifting to /q/ and /χ/. A shift of Proto-Ogbami ''*g'' > /ɢ/ is rarer, but does appear in some dialects of Chub, particularly in the west of the Chub Nation. In Ichaéno, Proto-Ogbami ''*g'' and ''*x'' merged into /ɣ~ʁ/, as seen in Ichaéno ''ya'''ğ'''wééŋ'' and ''chę'''ğ'''ee'', from Proto-Ogbami ''*ja'''g'''oiŋm'' and ''*cy'''x'''e̚'' respectively. In Gnu specifically, Proto-Ogbami ''*ŋ'' became /ɴ/.