5.23 Change of vowels

The vowel of the antepenult sporadically may change to /a/: kumusta or kamusta ‘how are, is’; batíis or bitíis ‘leg’. Occasionally /a/ or /u/ is assimilated to a following /y/ or an /i/ in the following syllable: biyà or bayà ‘leave’; musimus or misimus ‘lowly’. In these cases competing forms are listed.