ABSTRACT

Carlos Everett Conant (1912)–in classic Neogrammarian fashion–has laid out the
regular occurrence of the Pepet vowel e and its supposed exceptionless
manifestations in a wide selection of Philippine languages (PLs). The general picture
is that an overwhelming majority of PLs have 3-4 significant vowel sounds; some
retain the original *i, *a, *u, and *e sounds of ancestral languages, others seem to
lose the “original indifferent vowel” (Ibid., p. 920) *e through “absorption” (p. 931),
or merging with one of the three other vowels /i/, /a/, and /u/.

But why do speakers of Central Philippine languages produce words such as Bikol,
Libon olâ ‘to sit’ or rongog ‘to hear’ (Lobel & Tria, 2000, p. 143), Inati ujɛn ‘rain’
(Blust, 1991, p. 88), or even the ubiquitous Tagalog [pa.ˈŋɛt] ‘ugly’ and [ˈʔuː.lɔ]
‘head’?

This paper will pinpoint occurrences of the open-mid, near-front vowel [ɛ] and the
open-mid, back rounded vowel [ɔ] in the languages of Central Philippines. Data for
this survey will be from representatives of the Central Philippine languages:
Tagalog, the Bisayan complex, and the Bikol macrolanguage; the South Mangyan
languages; Manide-Alabat; the Philippine isolate Inati; the Kalamianic varieties; and
Palawanic.

Paper presented at the 16th International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics (16-ICAL) held in De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines as part of the themed panel "E and O in Philippine Languages" with co-proponents Johans Cruz, Edward Estrera, and Earvin Christian Pelagio.