Abstract
Mabaan differs from other Western Nilotic languages by not using anything like the feature [ATR] or [breathy] in the overall organisation of its vowel system. On the other hand, however, Mabaan is similar to many other Western Nilotic languages in using vowel alternation in the derivational morphology of verbal roots. In the latter languages this alternation is based on one of the above-mentioned features, but in Mabaan it involves diphthongization and monophthongization and cannot be described in terms of single phonetic feature. This situation invites the hypothesis that the absence of [ATR] or [breathy] in Mabaan is an innovation, and this hypothesis is confirmed by a comparison with Pari and Dinka. Traditionally, these three languages are assumed to belong to different main branches ofthe Western Nilotic family, and this classification is compatible with the findings on the developments of their vowel systems.
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