On Sat, 28 Sep 2002 19:30:13 -0000, "Sergejus Tarasovas" <S.Tarasovas@...>
wrote:

>--- In cybalist@..., Miguel Carrasquer <mcv@...> wrote:
>> The /a/-vocalism in forms such as *(s)kWalos (Lat. squalus. Eng.
>whale) or
>> *kWasyo-/*kWaslo- (Lat. qua:lum, quasillus; Slav. kos^I) "basket"
>points to *qW.
>>
>
>What are the typological grounds for the statement that uvulars
>trigger a-colouring (and not o-colouring, for instance)? What would
>be a possible (neuro)physiological explanation? Just wondering.

Ladefoged & Maddieson (Sounds of the World's Languages, p. 36) describe a study
where in an Arabic speaker uvular /q/ lowers F2 of a following /a/ or /i/, while
(slightly) raising F2 of a following /u/, as compared to velar /k/. This
amounts to a backing of the vowel (F1 is correlated with high/low, (F2-F1) with
front/back). The effect is comparable to that of pharyngealization, or
"[A]-colouring" (Arabic /q/ is historically a pharyngealized /k/).

=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...