Ulumandaʼ is unusual among the Austronesian languages of Sulawesi for featuring a
vowel harmony opposition of front vowels /ĂŠ, Ăž, y/ to corresponding back vowels /É, o, u/ comparable to that of the
Uralic languages. Originally, fronted vowels arose from the fronting of back vowels before syllable-final
velar consonants*k and *Ć, but were phonemicized in final syllables when word-final *-m and *-n merged with *Ć to result in -Ć but did not front a preceding back vowel unlike original *-Ć. These fronted vowels then fronted any other back vowels in a word except if a neutral vowel like *e or *i intervened between the vowels.
A contrastive pair includes /uraĆ/ "person" vs. /urĂŠĆ/ [yrĂŠĆ] "shrimp".
^Friberg, Timothy; Laskowske, Thomas V. (1989).
"South Sulawesi languages"(PDF). In J.N. Sneddon (ed.). Studies in Sulawesi linguistics part 1. NUSA 17. Jakarta: Badan Penyelenggara Seri Nusa. pp. 1â17.