Distribution of vowels

There is a difference in the distribution of vowels across prominent as opposed to non-prominent syllables. In prominent syllables, any vowel can appear in word-final position. By contrast, in non-prominent open syllables, /ii/, /ia/, /uu/, /ua/ and /aa/ are blocked from occurring word finally. This reduces the range of vowel contrasts in such syllables to the three simple vowels, /i/, /a/ and /u/, and to the diphthongs /ai/ and /au/.

This distribution is well illustrated by the reduplicated items shown below. When the vowel in the non-final syllable is made up of complex nuclei, /ii/ or /uu/, the one in the final syllable will take the form of /i/ and /u/. Where the non-final syllable has either /ai/ or /au/ as its nucleus, these are maintained in the final syllable.

Where the complex vowel is /ia/ or /ua/, the reduced version is /e/ and /o/. With the simple version of the syllable appearing in second position in these reduplicated items, there is need to express on a single vowel segment both the feature High and the absence of High. This is done by way of the phonetically mid-vowels, /e/ and /o/, respectively. These are results which would be predicted from the analysis of the JamC phonological system, as seen in the examples below.