The formerly unknown sound law that determined the rise of long vowels in Common Selkup can be formulated as follows: Proto-Samoyed (PS) high-rise and middle-rise vowels in the first syllable followed by a syllable with a PS Schwa undergo lengthening (partly accompanied by narrowing of middle-rise vowels) in Selkup. No lenghtening occurs when the next syllable contained as PS non-Schwa (full) vowel; under certain conditions lengthening is blocked by the closeness of the first syllable. The article scrutinizes the particular manifestations of this sound law, as well as regular restrictions on its applicability, illustrated by representative selections of examples.
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