The present article contains a comprehensive analysis of laryngealized and pharyngealized vowels in Udihe dialects. It is shown that they origin out of tri-phonemic complexes of the V-C-V type, which is found in the closely related Oroch language. When considering complex vowel phonemes, phonological system of each territorial variety (dialect) is regarded as independent [Trudgill 1985]. In each variety the full mode and the allegro modes of pronunciation are taken into account, which makes it possible to show that, roughly, the allegro mode of one variety corresponds to the full pronunciation mode of another variety which, in turn, creates a new allegro mode, etc. The objectives of the article are 1) to give an overview of Udihe dialects and their clusters; 2) to display the anatomy of the “dialectal continuum” by comparison of the modes of pronunciation in each territorial variety; 3) to show the relative character of the synchrony / diachrony dichotomy in a language description; 4) to demonstrate one of the ways of tonogenesis in a previously atonal language.