Ablaut

In linguistics, the process of ablaut (from German ab-: off + laut: sound) is a vowel change accompanying a change in grammatic function. For example, the vowel change in English from i to a to u in sing (present tense), sang (preterite), sung (past-participle) is referred to as an ablaut.

Verbs that display ablaut in English, and that do not form their preterites with a dental suffix like -ed or added -t or d, are called strong verbs. There used to be several regular classes of strong verbs in English, and many more of them; virtually all monosyllable verbs were strong verbs in Old English. Now, there are fewer of them; the force of analogy has remade many of them in the image of weak verbs, those verbs that form the preterite with a dental suffix. Sound changes like the Great Vowel Shift have also obscured some of the underlying regularity of the former classes of strong verbs. Now most of them are considered irregular verbs.

Ablaut is a common characteristic of many Indo-European languages and is also known as gradation. Latin displays ablaut in verbs such as ago (present tense), "I drive"; egi, (perfect tense), "I drove." Ablaut is a semi-regular phenomenon that affects whole classes of verbs in Ancient Greek and Sanskrit.

Indo-European had a characteristic general ablaut sequence that contrasted the vowel phonemes o/e/ə/Ø through the same root. Most philologists believe that the presence of laryngeals in the Indo-European roots, and their subsequent loss in most daughter languages, led to the development of several parallel ablaut sequences in Indo-European and its daughter languages. When ablaut is a regular feature of a language's grammar, it is often called vowel gradation.

The ablaut is distinguished from the phonetic influence of a succeeding vowel, called umlaut.

Related Topics

Inflected language

Commercial Usage: Ablaut

Domain	Title
Books	A history of ablaut in the strong verbs from Caxton to the end of the Elizabethan period (reference) Ablaut and Ambiguity (Linguistics) (reference) Ablaut and reduplication in the Germanic verb (reference) Sonantensystem und Ablaut in den Kartwelsprachen : eine Typologie der Struktur des Gemeinkartwelischen (reference) Ueber Den Umlaut: Zwei Abhandlungen (1843), & Ueber Den Ablaut (1844 (Amsterdam Classics in Linguistics Ser. 12) (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Modern Translations: Ablaut

Language		Translations for "ablaut"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		ablaut. (various references)

Bulgarian		отглас (answer, echo, gradation, resonance, response), аблаут. (various references)

French		apophonie. (various references)

German		Ablaut (vowel gradation). (various references)

Greek		ετεροποίωση. (various references)

Hungarian		ablaut. (various references)

Italian		armonia vocalica, apofonia (apophony). (various references)

Manx		ablout. (various references)

Pig Latin		ablautay.(various references)

Portuguese		apofonia, alteração de vogal no radical de verbos, mudanc,a da vogal no radical duma palavra. (various references)

Romanian		apofonie (vowel gradation). (various references)

Russian		абляут. (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		prevoj (bend, saddle). (various references)

Spanish		apofonía, quesontes. (various references)

Swedish		avljud (gradation, vowel gradation). (various references)

Turkish		ses değişimi (glide). (various references)

Ukranian		аблаут. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Derivations & Misspellings: Ablaut

Derivations
	Words beginning with "ablaut": ablauts. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Ablaut" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: abait, abaut, Abblitt, Abeliuk, ablent, alau, albait, albout, aslaug, Babauta, Balart, Balawat, Baldauf, balut, bliaut, mabalub, Salaut. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Rhyming with "Ablaut"

Anagrams: Ablaut

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-a-b-l-t-u"
	-1 letter: tabla, tubal.
	-2 letters: abut, alba, baal, blat, tabu, tala, tuba.
	-3 letters: aal, aba, ala, alb, alt, baa, bal, bat, but, lab, lat, tab, tau, tub, uta.
	-4 letters: aa, ab, al, at, ba, la, ta, ut.
	Words containing the letters "a-a-b-l-t-u"
	+1 letter: ablauts, abuttal, tableau, tabular.
	+2 letters: abuttals, ambulant, ambulate, blastula, habitual, layabout, tableaus, tableaux, tabulate.
	+3 letters: acetabula, ambulated, ambulates, auditable, blastulae, blastulas, layabouts, saturable, tablature, tabulated, tabulates, tabulator, trabecula, unactable, uneatable, untamable, walkabout.
	+4 letters: abundantly, acetabular, acetabulum, adjustable, ambulating, ambulation, ambulatory, balustrade, battailous, bequeathal, habitually, outbalance, statutable, tablatures, tabulating, tabulation, tabulators, trabeculae, trabecular, trabeculas, ultrabasic, unabatedly, unbeatable, unbeatably, walkabouts.
	+5 letters: ablutionary, accountable, accountably, acetabulums, ambulations, antiburglar, articulable, atrabilious, automatable, balustraded, balustrades, bequeathals, confabulate, entablature, fantabulous, lactalbumin, mandibulate, outbalanced, outbalances, perambulate, racquetball, subnational, subrational, substantial, sustainable, tabulations, trabeculate, treasurable, ultrabasics, unadaptable, unadoptable, unalterable, unalterably, unballasted, uncatchable, undauntable, undebatable, undebatably, unelaborate, unmatchable, unpalatable, unteachable, untraceable, unwatchable.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.