ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I will reconstruct the ‘vowels’ of OJ in the following sequence.
First, I will reconstruct what I consider to be the primary ‘vowels’ of OJ: a, yi, u, and o. Much of the work on pre-OJ internal reconstruction is based upon the assumption that the pre-OJ predecessors of these four ‘vowels’ (*a, *i, *u, *R) combined into diphthongs which developed into the remaining OJ ‘vowels’ (ye, ey, iy, wo) (p. 81). If OJ a, yi, u, and o turn out to be quite different from *a, *i, *u, and *R, then I will have to reevaluate preexisting hypotheses of diphthongal origins for the other OJ ‘vowels.’
