Sound changes from Proto-Jê to Proto-Cerrado
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. 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: *''*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-'').Sound changes from Proto-Cerrado to the daughter languages
Onsets
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/. Their reflexes in the daughter branches are shown below.Nuclei
The inventory of the Proto-Cerrado monophthongs is reconstructed as follows. 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''.Codas
References
{{Macro-Jê languages Jê languages Languages of Brazil