Vowel Alternation

In linguistics , the process of vowel alternation, also called vowel gradation, or ablaut designates a system of gradations stamps vowel in Indo-European that still has an effect in the Indo-European modern. Thus, the same radical or morpheme Indo-European may be in three forms (this is not the case for all), each with variations: zero degree, degree and full degree long.

Here we take the case (theoretical) of verb stem * lik - "leave" (which gives linquo in Latin and Ancient Greek / leipo):

• degree zero (without vowels): * lik - (to this degree, i * is not considered a vowel: it is the vocalization of sonorant consonants between * y);
• full grade:
  • patch e: * s e yk -
  • stamp o: o yk * s -;
• how long:
  • patch e: * s yk -
  • stamp o * l o y k -.

We see, the vowel is either a * a * e is o: this is called the alternating vowel, often denoted * ^e / _o to mark his character variant: the two stamps, e and o, function Indeed the manner of allophones * s ^e / _o yk - is another possible writing verbal root.

The method is also very present in Sanskrit , the ancient Indian grammarians have seen and described, giving the full name of degree guna (quality) and degree of the long vrddhi ("increase"), terms sometimes encountered in the description of non-Indian languages. However, it is notable that the phonology of Sanskrit is very different from that of the Greek , their analysis often differs significantly. For example, Sanskrit has been the reduction of * e and * o to a single patch / a /, there is no alternative to stamps comparable to the Greek.

Morphology

Choosing a degree and a stamp is not clear: the radical or the morpheme alternant take the desired degree by rules of morphology complex, during Siel, have tended in the Indo-European languages, to change even easier, especially because of phonetic changes of schedules and particularly strong trend in analog leveling. Thus, the vowel alternation in Latin is seen much less in ancient Greek. For modern languages, it is much more visible in English or German (think of verbs called "irregular": sing, blood, sung are the three forms, the three themes aspecto-temporal of the same verb) than in Romance languages.

Some notable examples: the same verb ^e * s / _o yk - has the following alternations in Greek:

• degree zero: to the aorist theme, so named because a thematic vowel alternation added before the endings, thus forming a subject to final vowel. The thematic vowel is already present in the end theme, it disappears from the radical- -- (- is the augment ,--final vowel alternating , and theme-the ending of first person singular time secondary);
• full grade:
  • e stamp: -, in the present tense. Although the ending- is already marked with a vowel alternation ( contracted with that of the ending clean), the radical has this time out its own vowel alternation,
  • stamp o: --, the perfect indicative (-is repetition in e, characteristic of the perfect, the ending-).

For other developments in Greek, also check Conjugations ancient Greek .

All verbs do not follow this model and we rarely encountered the same radical with three degrees at all stamps: for example, lengthened grade is infrequent and mainly characterized the nominal inflection. In fact, a theoretical model that would be found in all Indo-European ancient to predict to what extent and how should stamp a radical stand for as no morphological desired. As mentioned, the languages have tended to simplify such a complex system, especially as many phonetic changes had sometimes made regular. One example would say that, preferably, these themes are at full level, timbre e, perfect timbre o and verbal adjectives in *- to (kinds of participles past liabilities) at zero degree. However, there are numerous exceptions, within the same language and between languages themselves.

Note

This change must be distinguished phonetics of a vowel change caused by the presence of a vowel, called umlaut. The ablaut appeared in Indo-European, while the umlaut appeared later in proto-Germanic. These terms are sometimes used also for similar changes in other language families.

Related articles

• Apophonie
• Thematic vowel
• Conjugations of the Greek
• Conjugations of Sanskrit
• Sound shift

• Portal Language

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