Echo vowel

In speech, an echo vowel, also known as a synharmonic vowel, is a paragogic vowel that repeats the final vowel in a word. For example, in Chumash, when a word ends with a glottal stop and comes at the end of an intonation unit, the final vowel is repeated after the glottal stop, but is whispered and faint, as in [jaʔḁ] for /jaʔ/ "arrow" (written ya). In Rukai (Taiwan), echo vowels are pronounced as full vowels. However, they are predictable and disappear when under reduplication or when a suffix beginning with /a/ is added to the word.