| has gloss | eng: A-mutation is a metaphonic process, supposed to have taken place in late Proto-Germanic (i.e. around 200 AD). General description In a-mutation, a short high vowel (*/u/ or */i/) was lowered when the following syllable contained a non-high vowel (*/a/, /o:/ or /æ:/). Thus, since the change was produced by other vowels besides */a/, the term a-mutation is something of a misnomer. It has also been called "a-umlaut", "a/o-umlaut", "velar umlaut" and, formerly, "Brechung". (This last was Grimm's term, but nowadays German "Brechung", and its English equivalents "breaking" and "fracture", are generally restricted in use to other, unrelated sound-changes which later affected individual Germanic dialects. ) |