Re: Umlaut
| From: | Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Thursday, June 19, 2003, 20:24 |
|---|
Quick terminology question:
I thought umlaut was a specific variety of ablaut - a consistent featural
change. But it doesn't seem to be; in German, for instance, while umlaut
does always move a vowel from back to front, it has an inconsistent
effect on the height: ä [e] is higher than a [A]; ö [9] is lower than o [o],
while ü [y] is the same height as u. Is there some other consistency here
that I'm missing? Is the effect perhaps consistent for a given
vowel across languages that exhibit umlaut?
-Mark
Reply