Cerrado languages

The occurrence of the consonant */g/ in Proto-Cerrado (as in */g/õt ‘to sleep’, */g/õ ‘to give’, */g/aj’ ‘you’) is believed to be an innovation; it has been claimed to have been inserted in onsetless-stressed syllables.^[2]: 85

The Proto-Cerrado diphthongs *wa and *ja are believed to continue Proto-Jê monophthongs, which have been reconstructed as *ô and *ê₂. Other vowels which have been claimed to have innovated in Proto-Cerrado are:^[2]: 88

• *ô (goes back to an unrounded vowel, reconstructed as Proto-Jê *ə̂₁);
• *u (a merger of earlier *u₁ and *u₂, distinguished in the Southern Jê languages as o and u, respectively);
• *ũ (a merger of earlier *ũ₁ and *ũ₂, distinguished as ũ and ỹ in Kaingang and as ũ and õ in Laklãnõ);
• *ə̃ (a merger of earlier *ə̃ and *ỹ, distinguished as ỹ and ĩ in Kaingang and as õ and ẽ in Laklãnõ);
• all vowels in the Proto-Jê unstressed syllables of the shape *pV- were neutralized in the Cerrado languages: Proto-Cerrado *pᵊ- (> Proto-Goyaz Jê *py-/*pu-, Proto-Akuwẽ *pi-).

The simple onset inventory of Proto-Cerrado is */p m w t n ɾ c ɲ j k ŋ g/, and the only complex onsets are */pɾ mɾ kɾ ŋɾ/.^{[3]: 158–63}

Their reflexes in the daughter branches are shown below.^[2]

Proto-Cerrado		Proto-Goyaz Jê		Proto-Akuwẽ
oral nucleus	nasal nucleus	oral nucleus	nasal nucleus	oral nucleus (Proto-Cerrado non-high vowel)	oral nucleus (Proto-Cerrado high vowel)	before a diphthong	nasal nucleus
*p */p/		*p */p/		*p */p/	*b */b/	N/A	*m */b/
*mb */m/	*m */m/	*mb */m/	*m */m/
*pr */pɾ/		*pr */pɾ/		*pr */pɾ/	N/A		*mr */bɾ/
*mbr */mɾ/	*mr */mɾ/	*mbr */mɾ/	*mr */mɾ/				N/A
*w */w/		*b */b/		*w */w/
*t */t/		*t */t/		*t */t/	*d */d/	*∅	*n */d/
*nd */n/	*n */n/	*nd */n/	*n */n/		N/A
*r */ɾ/		*r */ɾ/		*r */ɾ/		*∅	*r */ɾ/
*c */c/		*c */c/		*c */c/	*ĵ */ɟ/, *h */h/ (before *i)	*∅	*c */c/
*nĵ */ɲ/	N/A	*nĵ */ɲ/	N/A		N/A
*j */j/	*ñ */j/	*ĵ (stressed)/*j (unstressed) */ĵ/	*ñ */ĵ/	*ĵ */ĵ/, *c */c/ (before *i)		*k */k/	*ñ */ĵ/
*k */k/		*k */k/		*k */k/ (unstressed *ka- > *wa-)	*h */h/	*∅	*k */k/
*ŋg */ŋ/	*ŋ */ŋ/	*ŋg */ŋ/	*ŋ */ŋ/				N/A
*kr */kɾ/		*kr */kɾ/		*kr */kɾ/			*kr */kɾ/
*ŋgr */ŋɾ/	*ŋr */ŋɾ/	*ŋgr */ŋɾ/	*ŋr */ŋɾ/				N/A
*g */g/		*g */g/	*ŋ */g/	*g */g/	N/A

The inventory of the Proto-Cerrado monophthongs is reconstructed as follows.

oral				nasal
*i */i/	*y */ɨ/	*u */u/		*ĩ */ĩ/	*ỹ */ɨ̃/
*ê */e/	*ə̂ */ɘ/	*ô */o/
*e */ɛ/	*ə */ɜ/	*o */ɔ/		*ẽ */ɛ̃/	*ə̃ */ɜ̃/	*õ */ɔ̃/
	*a */a/

In addition, two diphthongs can be reconstructed, */wa/ and */ja/.

The following table shows the usual reflexes of the Proto-Cerrado nuclei in Proto-Goyaz Jê and in Proto-Akuwẽ. The latter group shows a chain vowel shift known as the Akuwẽ/Central Jê vowel shift.^{[4]: 61 [3]: 164}

Proto-Cerrado	Proto-Goyaz Jê	Proto-Akuwẽ
*a */a/	*a */a/, *ã */ã/ (before *-m’)	*a */a/
*ə */ɜ/	*ə */ɜ/	*e */ɛ/, *ê */e/ (before a dental coda)
*ə̂ */ɘ/	*ə̂ */ɘ/
*y */ɨ/	*y */ɨ/, *ə */ɜ/ (after a velar onset), *ỹ */ɨ̃/ (before *-m’)	*ə */ə/
*o */ɔ/	*o */ɔ/	*o */ɔ/
*ô */o/	*ô */o/	*u */u/
*u */u/	*u */u/, *ũ */ũ/ (before *-m’)
*wa */wa/	*wa */wa/, *û */ua/, *wə̂ */wɘ/ (in closed syllables)	*wa */wa/
*e */ɛ/	*e */ɛ/	*ê */e/
*ê */e/	*ê */e/	*i */i/
*i */i/	*i */i/
*ja */ja/	*jê */je/, *î */ia/	*ĵa */ɟa/
*ə̃ */ɜ̃/	*ə̃ */ɜ̃/	*ə̃ */ə̃/
*ỹ */ɨ̃/	*ỹ */ɨ̃/
*õ */ɔ̃/	*õ */ɔ̃/	*õ */ɔ̃/
*ẽ */ɛ̃/	*ẽ */ɛ̃/	*ẽ */ɛ̃/
*ĩ */ĩ/	*ĩ */ĩ/	*ĩ */ĩ/

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