Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 10
This practical uniformity in regard to vowel qualities raises the question whether a similar tendency may not be character istic of North American languages in general. The descriptions ordinarily given of Indian vowels, as of u like English 00 or by the orthography ii, are no evidence, unless emanating from a recorder having the distinction of quality clearly in mind. An English or German speaking person inevitably assumes all long vowels to be close unless he deliberately checks his unconscious impulse to perceive as he is accustomed to speak. The inaccuracy has frequently been perpetrated in California, not to the least extent by the present writer; and yet, greater care reveals the presence of scarcely any close vowel qualities; so that a sceptical attitude seems justified as regards many other American languages.
It is hardly necessary to add that a tendency for length to be associated with closeness and brevity with Openness, or the reverse, has not been established in a single instance.
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