Long vowels in Proto-Japanese

Abstract

The goal of this article is to provide internal and partial external evidence that Proto-Japanese had both vowel length and pitch accent. The author examines the evidence from Ryukyuan dialects of Japanese and from prehistoric Japanese loanwords in the Ainu language. This combined evidence demonstrates that the majority of Pre-Proto-Japanese words with initial vowel length may be associated with an initial low pitch. However, there are also certain words which combine initial high pitch and initial vowel length. Comparative data from Tungusic and Korean are also used.