Bilabial Reflexes of Proto-Oceanic *q in Southern Vanuatu Languages

Following on an earlier description of sporadic reflexes of Proto-Oceanic *q in Malakula, another set of sporadic reflexes of the same protophoneme is discussed. In Southern Vanuatu languages, *q sporadically merges with the reflexes of *p that occur adjacent to *u. Because the Proto-Southern Vanuatu reflex of *p in that environment may have been phonetically a labialized velar stop, this adds support to the view that *q was uvular; it may have also had a labialized reflex in the same environment, which would help to explain this partial merger. Some comparison is also made between different loss and retention patterns as they relate to the two Proto-Oceanic uvular phonemes, *q and *R.