Vowel breaking: Difference between revisions

Content deleted Content added

Inline

Latest revision as of 11:16, 18 May 2024

In historical linguistics, vowel breaking, vowel fracture,^[1] or diphthongization is the sound change of a monophthong into a diphthong or triphthong.

Types

Vowel breaking may be unconditioned or conditioned. It may be triggered by the presence of another sound, by stress, or in no particular way.

Assimilation

Vowel breaking is sometimes defined as a subtype of diphthongization, when it refers to harmonic (assimilatory) process that involves diphthongization triggered by a following vowel or consonant.

The original pure vowel typically breaks into two segments. The first segment matches the original vowel, and the second segment is harmonic with the nature of the triggering vowel or consonant. For example, the second segment may be /u/ (a back vowel) if the following vowel or consonant is back (such as velar or pharyngeal), and the second segment may be /i/ (a front vowel) if the following vowel or consonant is front (such as palatal).

Thus, vowel breaking, in the restricted sense, can be viewed as an example of assimilation of a vowel to a following vowel or consonant.

Unconditioned

Vowel breaking is sometimes not assimilatory and is then not triggered by a neighboring sound. That was the case with the Great Vowel Shift in English in which all cases of /iː/ and /uː/ changed to diphthongs.

Stress

Vowel breaking sometimes occurs only in stressed syllables. For instance, Vulgar Latin open-mid /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ changed to diphthongs only when they were stressed.

Indo-European languages

English

Vowel breaking is a very common sound change in the history of the English language, occurring at least three times (with some varieties adding a fourth) listed here in reverse chronological order:

Southern American English

Vowel breaking is characteristic of the "Southern drawl" of Southern American English, where the short front vowels have developed a glide up to [j], and then in some areas back down to schwa: pat [pæjət], pet [pɛjət], pit [pɪjət].^[2]

Great Vowel Shift

The Great Vowel Shift changed the long vowels /iː uː/ to diphthongs, which became Modern English /aɪ aʊ/.

Old English īs > Modern English ice /aɪs/
Old English hūs > Modern English house /haʊs/

Middle English

In early Middle English, a vowel /i/ was inserted between a front vowel and a following /h/ (pronounced [ç] in this context), and a vowel /u/ was inserted between a back vowel and a following /h/ (pronounced [x] in this context).

That is a prototypical example of the narrow sense of "vowel breaking" as described above: the original vowel breaks into a diphthong that assimilates to the following consonant, gaining a front /i/ before a palatal consonant and /u/ before a velar consonant.

Old English

In Old English, two forms of harmonic vowel breaking occurred: breaking and retraction and back mutation.

In prehistoric Old English, breaking and retraction changed stressed short and long front vowels i, e, æ to short and long diphthongs spelled io, eo, ea when followed by h or by r, l + another consonant (short vowels only), and sometimes w (only for certain short vowels):^[3]

Proto-Germanic *fallan > Anglo-Frisian *fællan > Old English feallan "fall"
PG *erþō > OE eorþe "earth"
PG *lizaną > OE liornian "learn"

In late prehistoric Old English, back mutation changed short front i, e, æ to short diphthongs spelled io, eo, ea before a back vowel in the next syllable if the intervening consonant was of a certain nature. The specific nature of the consonants that trigger back umlaut or block it varied from dialect to dialect.

Old Norse

Proto-Germanic stressed short e becomes ja or (before u) jǫ regularly in Old Norse except after w, r, l. Examples are:

PG *ek(a) "I" → (east) ON jak, Swedish jag, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål jeg, and Icelandic ek → ég (but Jutlandic æ, a, Nynorsk eg).
- Faroese has both. The standard form is eg, while the dialects of Suðuroy have jeg.
PG *hertōn "heart" → ON hjarta, Swedish hjärta, Faroese hjarta, Norwegian Nynorsk hjarta, Danish hjerte
PG *erþō "earth" → Proto-Norse *erþū → ON jǫrð, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian jord, Faroese jørð

According to some scholars,^[4] the diphthongisation of e is an unconditioned sound change, whereas other scholars speak about epenthesis^[5] or umlaut.^[6]

German and Yiddish

The long high vowels of Middle High German underwent breaking during the transition to Early New High German: /iː yː uː/ → /aɪ̯ ɔʏ̯ aʊ̯/. In Yiddish, the diphthongization affected the long mid vowels as well: /ɛː oː øː iː yː uː/ → /ɛɪ̯ ɔɪ̯ ɛɪ̯ aɪ̯ aɪ̯ ɔɪ̯/

MHG êwic → NHG ewig, Yiddish: אייביק‎, romanized: eybik ("eternal")
MHG hôch → NHG hoch, Yiddish: הויך‎, romanized: hoykh ("high")
MHG schœne → NHG schön, Yiddish: שיין‎, romanized: sheyn ("nice")
MHG snîden → NHG schneiden, Yiddish: שנײַדן, romanized: shnaydn ("to cut")
MHG vriunt → NHG Freund, Yiddish: פֿרײַנד‎, romanized: fraynd ("friend")
MHG hût → NHG Haut, Yiddish: הויט, romanized: hoyt ("skin")

This change started as early as the 12th century in Upper Bavarian and reached Moselle Franconian only in the 16th century. It did not affect Alemannic or Ripuarian dialects, which still retain the original long vowels.

In Yiddish, the diphthongization applied not only to MHG long vowels but also to /ɛː oː/ in words of Hebrew (in stressed open syllables) or Slavic origin:

Hebrew: פסח, romanized: pésach → Yiddish: פּסח, romanized: peysekh ("Pesach")
Hebrew: מנורה, romanized: m'norá → Yiddish: מנורה, romanized: mnoyre ("menorah")
Old Czech: chřěn → Yiddish: כריין, romanized: khreyn ("chrain")
Polish: kosz → Yiddish: קויש, romanized: koysh ("basket")

Scottish Gaelic

Vowel breaking is present in Scottish Gaelic with the following changes occurring often but variably between dialects: Archaic Irish eː → Scottish Gaelic iə and Archaic Irish oː → Scottish Gaelic uə ^[7] Specifically, central dialects have more vowel breaking than others.

Romance languages

Many Romance languages underwent vowel breaking. The Vulgar Latin open vowels e /ɛ/ and o /ɔ/ in stressed position underwent breaking only in open syllables in French and Italian, but in both open and closed syllables in Spanish. Vowel breaking was mostly absent in Catalan, in which /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ became diphthongs only before a palatal consonant: Latin coxa 'thigh', octō 'eight', lectum 'bed' > Old Catalan */kuoiʃa/, */uoit/, */lieit/. The middle vowel was subsequently lost if a triphthong was produced: Modern Catalan cuixa, vuit, llit (cf. Portuguese coxa, oito, leito). Vowel breaking was completely absent in Portuguese. The result of breaking varies between languages: e and o became ie and ue in Spanish, ie and uo in Italian and ie and eu /ø/ in French.

In the table below, words with breaking are bolded.

Syllable shape	Latin	Spanish	French	Italian	Portuguese	Catalan
Open	petram, focum	piedra, fuego	pierre, feu	pietra, fuoco	pedra, fogo	pedra, foc
Closed	festam, portam	fiesta, puerta	fête, porte	festa, porta	festa, porta	festa, porta

Romanian

Romanian underwent the general Romance breaking only with /ɛ/, as it did not have /ɔ/:

Latin pellis > Romanian piele "skin"

It underwent a later breaking of stressed e and o to ea and oa before a mid or open vowel:

Latin porta > Romanian poartă "gate"
Latin flōs (stem flōr-) > Romanian floare "flower"

Sometimes a word underwent both forms of breaking in succession:

Latin petra > Early Romanian pietră > Romanian piatră "stone" (where ia results from hypothetical *iea)

The diphthongs that resulted from the Romance and the Romanian breakings were modified when they occurred after palatalized consonants.

Quebec French

In Quebec French, long vowels are generally diphthongized when followed by a consonant in the same syllable (even when a final [ʁ] is optionally made silent).

tard [tɑːʁ] → [tɑɔ̯ʁ]; but not in tardif (because short a)
père [pɛːʁ] → [paɛ̯ʁ]
fleur [flœːʁ] → [flɶœ̯ʁ]; but not in fleuriste (long œ is at end of syllable)
fort [fɔːʁ] → [fɑɔ̯ʁ]; but not forte (short o)
autre [oːtʁ̥] → [ou̯tʁ̥]; but not autrement (long o is at end of syllable)
neutre [nøːtʁ̥] → [nøy̯tʁ̥]; but not neutralité (long ø is at end of syllable)
pince [pɛ̃ːs] → [pãɛ̃s]; or [pẽːs] → [pẽɪ̯̃s]; but not pincer
onze [õːz] → [õʊ̯̃z]; but not onzième

Proto-Indo-European

Some scholars^[8] believe that Proto-Indo-European (PIE) i, u had vowel-breaking before an original laryngeal in Greek, Armenian and Tocharian but that the other Indo-European languages kept the monophthongs:

PIE *gʷih₃wos → *gʷioHwos "alive" → Gk. ζωός zōós, Toch. B śāw-, śāy- (but Skt. jīvá-, Lat. vīvus)
PIE *protih₃kʷom → *protioHkʷom "front side" → Gk. πρόσωπον prósōpon "face", Toch. B pratsāko "breast" (but Skt. prátīka-)
PIE *duh₂ros → *duaHros "long" → Gk. δηρός dērós, Arm. *twār → erkar (Skt. dūrá-, Lat. dūrus).

However, the hypothesis has not been widely adopted.

Non-Indo-European languages

Austronesian languages

Some languages in Sumatra have vowel breaking processes, almost exclusively in syllable-final position. In Minangkabau, the Proto-Malayic vowels *i and *u are broken to ia and ua before word-final *h, *k, *l, *ŋ, *r (*təlur > *təluar > talua "egg").^[9] In Rejang, the Proto-Malayo-Polynesian vowels *ə, i, and u are broken to êa, ea, and oa before any of word-final consonants above except *k and *ŋ (*tənur > *tənoar > tênoa "egg").^[10] This process has been transphonologized by loss of *l and *r and merging of several word-final consonants into a glottal stop (*p, *t, *k in Minangkabau, or *k, *h in most dialects of Rejang except Kebanagung).

Word-final Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *-i and *-u were also broken in Sumatra. In Rejang, these vowels are broken into -ai and -au in Pesisir dialect, or into -êi and -êu elsewhere.^[10]

References

^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
^ Kathryn LaBouff, Singing and Communicating in English, Oxford University Press, 2007, p. 268.
^ Robert B. Howell 1991. Old English breaking and its Germanic analogues (Linguistische Arbeiten, 253.). Tübingen: Max Niemeyer
^ J. Svensson, Diftongering med palatalt förslag i de nordiska språken, Lund 1944.
^ H. Paul, "Zur Geschichte des germanischen Vocalismus", Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Kultur 6 (1879) 16-30.
^ K. M. Nielsen, Acta Philologica Scandinavica 24 (1957) 33-45.
^ Martin John Ball, James Fife (1993). The Celtic Languages. Psychology Press. p. 152. ISBN 9780415010351.
^ F. Normier, in: Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung 91 (1977) 171-218; J.S. Klein, in: Die Laryngaltheorie und die Rekonstruktion des indogermanischen Laut- und Formensystems, Heidelberg 1988, 257-279; Olsen, Birgit Anette, in: Proceedings of the fourth international conference on Armenian linguistics, Cleveland's State University, Cleveland, Ohio, September 14–18, 1991, Delmar (NY) 1992, 129-146; J.E. Rasmussen, in: Selected Papers on Indo-European Linguistics, Copenhagen 1999, 442-458.
^ Adelaar, K. Alexander (1992). Proto-Malayic: The Reconstruction of its Phonology and Parts of its Lexicon and Morphology. Pacific Linguistics, Series C, no. 119. Canberra: Dept. of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, The Australian National University. doi:10.15144/PL-C119. hdl:1885/145782. ISBN 978-0-85883-408-8.
^ ^a ^b "Some Irregular Reflexes of Proto-Malayo-Polynesian Vowels in the Rejang Language of Sumatra" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-08-08.

Bibliography

Crowley, Terry. (1997) An Introduction to Historical Linguistics. 3rd edition. Oxford University Press.

[1] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

[2] Kathryn LaBouff, Singing and Communicating in English, Oxford University Press, 2007, p. 268.

[3] Robert B. Howell 1991. Old English breaking and its Germanic analogues (Linguistische Arbeiten, 253.). Tübingen: Max Niemeyer

[4] J. Svensson, Diftongering med palatalt förslag i de nordiska språken, Lund 1944.

[5] H. Paul, "Zur Geschichte des germanischen Vocalismus", Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Kultur 6 (1879) 16-30.

[6] K. M. Nielsen, Acta Philologica Scandinavica 24 (1957) 33-45.

[7] Martin John Ball, James Fife (1993). The Celtic Languages. Psychology Press. p. 152. ISBN 9780415010351.

[8] F. Normier, in: Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung 91 (1977) 171-218; J.S. Klein, in: Die Laryngaltheorie und die Rekonstruktion des indogermanischen Laut- und Formensystems, Heidelberg 1988, 257-279; Olsen, Birgit Anette, in: Proceedings of the fourth international conference on Armenian linguistics, Cleveland's State University, Cleveland, Ohio, September 14–18, 1991, Delmar (NY) 1992, 129-146; J.E. Rasmussen, in: Selected Papers on Indo-European Linguistics, Copenhagen 1999, 442-458.

[9] Adelaar, K. Alexander (1992). Proto-Malayic: The Reconstruction of its Phonology and Parts of its Lexicon and Morphology. Pacific Linguistics, Series C, no. 119. Canberra: Dept. of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, The Australian National University. doi:10.15144/PL-C119. hdl:1885/145782. ISBN 978-0-85883-408-8.

[reflex-10] "Some Irregular Reflexes of Proto-Malayo-Polynesian Vowels in the Rejang Language of Sumatra" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-08-08.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Short description|Process by which monophthongs become diphthongs and triphthongs}}
 {{Sound change}}
-In [[historical linguistics]], '''vowel breaking''', '''vowel fracture''',<ref>The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.</ref> or '''diphthongization''' is the change of a [[monophthong]] into a [[diphthong]] or [[triphthong]].
+In [[historical linguistics]], '''vowel breaking''', '''vowel fracture''',<ref>The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.</ref> or '''diphthongization''' is the [[sound change]] of a [[monophthong]] into a [[diphthong]] or [[triphthong]].
 ==Types==
-Vowel breaking may be unconditioned or conditioned. It may be triggered by the presence of another sound or by stress, or it may be triggered in no particular way.
+Vowel breaking may be unconditioned or conditioned. It may be triggered by the presence of another sound, by stress, or in no particular way.
 ===Assimilation===
-Sometimes vowel breaking is defined as a subtype of diphthongization; then, it refers to harmonic ([[assimilation (linguistics)|assimilatory]]) process that involves diphthongization triggered by a following vowel or consonant.
+Vowel breaking is sometimes defined as a subtype of diphthongization, when it refers to harmonic ([[assimilation (linguistics)|assimilatory]]) process that involves diphthongization triggered by a following vowel or consonant.
-The original pure vowel typically breaks into two segments, and the first segment matches the original vowel and the second segment is harmonic with the nature of the triggering vowel or consonant. For example, the second segment may be /u/ (a back vowel) if the following vowel or consonant is back (such as [[velar consonant|velar]] or [[pharyngeal consonant|pharyngeal]]), and the second segment may be /i/ (a front vowel) if the following vowel or consonant is front (such as [[palatal consonant|palatal]]).
+The original pure vowel typically breaks into two segments. The first segment matches the original vowel, and the second segment is harmonic with the nature of the triggering vowel or consonant. For example, the second segment may be {{IPA|/u/}} (a back vowel) if the following vowel or consonant is back (such as [[velar consonant|velar]] or [[pharyngeal consonant|pharyngeal]]), and the second segment may be {{IPA|/i/}} (a front vowel) if the following vowel or consonant is front (such as [[palatal consonant|palatal]]).
-Thus, vowel breaking, in this restricted sense, can be viewed as an example of [[assimilation (linguistics)|assimilation]] of a vowel to a following vowel or consonant.
+Thus, vowel breaking, in the restricted sense, can be viewed as an example of [[assimilation (linguistics)|assimilation]] of a vowel to a following vowel or consonant.
 ===Unconditioned===
-Vowel breaking is sometimes not assimilatory, not triggered by a neighboring sound. This is the case with the [[Great Vowel Shift]] in [[English language|English]]: all cases of {{IPA|/iː/}} and {{IPA|/uː/}} changed to diphthongs.
+Vowel breaking is sometimes not assimilatory and is then not triggered by a neighboring sound. That was the case with the [[Great Vowel Shift]] in [[English language|English]] in which all cases of {{IPA|/iː/}} and {{IPA|/uː/}} changed to diphthongs.
 ===Stress===
-Sometimes vowel breaking occurs only in stressed syllables. For instance, [[Vulgar Latin]] open-mid {{IPA|/ɛ/}} and {{IPA|/ɔ/}} changed to diphthongs only when stressed.
+Vowel breaking sometimes occurs only in stressed syllables. For instance, [[Vulgar Latin]] open-mid {{IPA|/ɛ/}} and {{IPA|/ɔ/}} changed to diphthongs only when they were stressed.
+==Indo-European languages==
-==Examples==
 ===English===
 Vowel breaking is a very common sound change in the history of the English language, occurring at least three times (with some varieties adding a fourth) listed here in reverse chronological order:
@@ Line 27: / Line 28: @@
 ====Great Vowel Shift====
-The Great Vowel Shift changed the long vowels {{IPA|/iː uː/}} to diphthongs. They became [[Modern English]] {{IPA|/aɪ aʊ/}}.
+The [[Great Vowel Shift]] changed the long vowels {{IPA|/iː uː/}} to diphthongs, which became [[Modern English]] {{IPA|/aɪ aʊ/}}.
 * Old English ''{{lang|ang|īs}}'' > Modern English ''ice'' {{IPA|/aɪs/}}
 * Old English ''{{lang|ang|hūs}}'' > Modern English ''house'' {{IPA|/haʊs/}}
@@ Line 33: / Line 34: @@
 ==== Middle English ====
 {{main|Middle English phonology#Breaking}}
-In early [[Middle English]], a vowel {{IPA|/i/}} was inserted between a front vowel and a following {{IPA|/h/}} (pronounced {{IPA|[ç]}} in this context), and a vowel {{IPA|/u/}} was inserted between a back vowel and a following {{IPA|/h/}} (pronounced {{IPA|[x]}} in this context).  This is a prototypical example of the narrow sense of "vowel breaking" as described above: The original vowel breaks into a diphthong that assimilates to the following consonant, gaining a front {{IPA|/i/}} before a [[palatal consonant]] and {{IPA|/u/}} before a [[velar consonant]].
+In early [[Middle English]], a vowel {{IPA|/i/}} was inserted between a front vowel and a following {{IPA|/h/}} (pronounced {{IPA|[ç]}} in this context), and a vowel {{IPA|/u/}} was inserted between a back vowel and a following {{IPA|/h/}} (pronounced {{IPA|[x]}} in this context).
+That is a prototypical example of the narrow sense of "vowel breaking" as described above: the original vowel breaks into a diphthong that assimilates to the following consonant, gaining a front {{IPA|/i/}} before a [[palatal consonant]] and {{IPA|/u/}} before a [[velar consonant]].
-==== Old English ====
-{{main|Old English phonology#Breaking and retraction|Old English phonology#Back mutation}}
-In [[Old English]], two forms of harmonic vowel breaking occurred: breaking and retraction, and back mutation.
+==== Old English ====
-In prehistoric Old English, breaking and retraction changed stressed short and long front vowels ''i, e, æ'' to short and long diphthongs spelled ''io, eo, ea'' when followed by ''h'' or by ''r, l'' + another consonant (short vowels only), and sometimes ''w'' (only for certain short vowels).
+{{main|Phonological history of Old English#Breaking and retraction|Phonological history of Old English#Back mutation}}
+In [[Old English]], two forms of harmonic vowel breaking occurred: breaking and retraction and back mutation.
-Examples are:<ref>Robert B. Howell 1991.  Old English breaking and its Germanic analogues (Linguistische Arbeiten, 253.).  Tübingen:  Max Niemeyer</ref>
+In prehistoric Old English, breaking and retraction changed stressed short and long front vowels ''i, e, æ'' to short and long diphthongs spelled ''io, eo, ea'' when followed by ''h'' or by ''r, l'' + another consonant (short vowels only), and sometimes ''w'' (only for certain short vowels):<ref>Robert B. Howell 1991. Old English breaking and its Germanic analogues (Linguistische Arbeiten, 253.). Tübingen: Max Niemeyer</ref>
 * Proto-Germanic {{PIE|*fallan}} > Anglo-Frisian {{PIE|*fællan}} > Old English ''feallan'' "fall"
 * PG {{PIE|*erþō}} > OE ''eorþe'' "earth"
-* PG {{PIE|*lirnoːjan}} > OE ''liornan'' "learn"
+* PG {{PIE|*lizaną}} > OE ''liornian'' "learn"
-In late prehistoric Old English, back mutation changed short front ''i, e, æ'' to short diphthongs spelled ''io, eo, ea'' before a back vowel in the next syllable, if the intervening consonant is of a certain nature. The specific nature of which consonants trigger back umlaut and which block them varies from dialect to dialect.
+In late prehistoric Old English, back mutation changed short front ''i, e, æ'' to short diphthongs spelled ''io, eo, ea'' before a back vowel in the next syllable if the intervening consonant was of a certain nature. The specific nature of the consonants that trigger back umlaut or block it varied from dialect to dialect.
 === Old Norse ===
@@ Line 54: / Line 55: @@
 * PG *''ek(a)'' "I" → (east) ON ''jak'', [[Swedish language|Swedish]] ''jag'', [[Danish language|Danish]] and [[Bokmål|Norwegian Bokmål]] ''jeg'', and [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]] ''ek'' → ''ég'' (but [[Jutlandic]] ''æ, a'', [[Nynorsk]] ''{{sic|hide=y|eg}}'').
 ** [[Faroese language|Faroese]] has both. The standard form is ''{{sic|hide=y|eg}}'', while the dialects of [[Suðuroy]] have ''jeg''.
-* PG *''hertōn'' "heart" → ON ''hjarta'', [[Swedish language|Swedish]] hjärta, [[Faroese language|Faroese]] ''hjarta'', [[Nynorsk|Norwegian Nynorsk]] ''hjarta'', [[Danish language|Danish]] ''hjerte''
+* PG *''hertōn'' "heart" → ON ''hjarta'', [[Swedish language|Swedish]] ''hjärta'', [[Faroese language|Faroese]] ''hjarta'', [[Nynorsk|Norwegian Nynorsk]] ''hjarta'', [[Danish language|Danish]] ''hjerte''
 * PG *''erþō'' "earth" → Proto-Norse *''erþū'' → ON ''jǫrð'', [[Swedish language|Swedish]], [[Danish language|Danish]], [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] ''jord'', [[Faroese language|Faroese]] ''jørð''
 According to some scholars,<ref>J. Svensson, ''Diftongering med palatalt förslag i de nordiska språken'', Lund 1944.</ref> the diphthongisation of ''e'' is an unconditioned sound change, whereas other scholars speak about [[epenthesis]]<ref>[[hermann Paul|H. Paul]], "Zur Geschichte des germanischen Vocalismus", ''Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Kultur'' 6 (1879) 16-30.</ref> or [[Germanic umlaut|umlaut]].<ref>[[Karl Martin Nielsen|K. M. Nielsen]], ''Acta Philologica Scandinavica'' 24 (1957) 33-45.</ref>
-=== German ===
+=== German and Yiddish ===
-The long high vowels of [[Middle High German]] underwent breaking during the transition to [[Early New High German]]: {{IPA|/iː yː uː/}} → {{IPA|/aɪ̯ ɔʏ̯ aʊ̯/}}
+The long high vowels of [[Middle High German]] underwent breaking during the transition to [[Early New High German]]: {{IPA|/iː yː uː/}} → {{IPA|/aɪ̯ ɔʏ̯ aʊ̯/}}. In [[Yiddish]], the diphthongization affected the long mid vowels as well: {{IPA|/ɛː oː øː iː yː uː/}} → {{IPA|/ɛɪ̯ ɔɪ̯ ɛɪ̯ aɪ̯ aɪ̯ ɔɪ̯/}}
-* MHG ''{{lang|gmh|hût}}'' → NHG ''{{lang|de|Haut}}'' ("skin")
+* MHG ''{{lang|gmh|êwic}}'' → NHG ''{{lang|de|ewig}}'', {{lang-yi|אייביק‎|eybik}} ("eternal")
+* MHG ''{{lang|gmh|hôch}}'' → NHG ''{{lang|de|hoch}}'', {{lang-yi|הויך‎|hoykh}} ("high")
+* MHG ''{{lang|gmh|schœne}}'' → NHG ''{{lang|de|schön}}'', {{lang-yi|שיין‎|sheyn}} ("nice")
+* MHG ''{{lang|gmh|snîden}}'' → NHG ''{{lang|de|schneiden}}'', {{lang-yi|שנײַדן|shnaydn}} ("to cut")
+* MHG ''{{lang|gmh|vriunt}}'' → NHG ''{{lang|de|Freund}}'', {{lang-yi|פֿרײַנד‎|fraynd}} ("friend")
+* MHG ''{{lang|gmh|hût}}'' → NHG ''{{lang|de|Haut}}'', {{lang-yi|הויט|hoyt}} ("skin")
+This change started as early as the 12th century in Upper Bavarian and reached Moselle Franconian only in the 16th century. It did not affect Alemannic or Ripuarian dialects, which still retain the original long vowels.
+In Yiddish, the diphthongization applied not only to MHG long vowels but also to {{IPA|/ɛː oː/}} in words of [[Hebrew]] (in stressed open syllables) or [[Slavic languages|Slavic]] origin:
+* {{lang-he|פסח|pésach}} → {{lang-yi|פּסח|peysekh}} ("[[Pesach]]")
+* {{lang-he|מנורה|m'norá}} → {{lang-yi|מנורה|mnoyre}} ("[[wikt:menorah|menorah]]")
+* [[Old Czech]]: ''chřěn'' → {{lang-yi|כריין|khreyn}} ("[[chrain]]")
+* {{lang-pl|kosz}} → {{lang-yi|קויש|koysh}} ("basket")
 === Scottish Gaelic ===
-Vowel breaking is present in Scottish Gaelic with the following changes occurring often but variably between dialects: Archaic Irish ''eː'' →  Scottish Gaelic ''iə'' and Archaic Irish ''oː'' →  Scottish Gaelic ''uə'' <ref>{{cite book |title=The Celtic Languages |author=Martin John Ball, James Fife |url=https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=BnCqZ5p60VoC&oi=fnd&pg=PA145&dq=scottish+gaelic+vowel+breaking&ots=1SyvE1pKkn&sig=h93K2qfrpmykVKbNcR5rj6vS85A#v=onepage&q=scottish%20gaelic%20vowel%20breaking&f=false |page=152}}</ref> Specifically, central dialects have more vowel breaking than others.
+Vowel breaking is present in Scottish Gaelic with the following changes occurring often but variably between dialects: Archaic Irish ''eː'' →  Scottish Gaelic ''iə'' and Archaic Irish ''oː'' →  Scottish Gaelic ''uə'' <ref>{{cite book |title=The Celtic Languages |author=Martin John Ball, James Fife |year=1993 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BnCqZ5p60VoC&q=scottish+gaelic+vowel+breaking&pg=PA145 |page=152|publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=9780415010351 }}</ref> Specifically, central dialects have more vowel breaking than others.
 ===Romance languages===
-Many [[Romance languages]] underwent vowel breaking. The [[Vulgar Latin]] open vowels ''e'' {{IPA|/ɛ/}} and ''o'' {{IPA|/ɔ/}} in [[stress (linguistics)|stressed]] position underwent breaking only in open syllables in [[French language|French]] and [[Italian language|Italian]], but in both open and closed syllables in [[Spanish language|Spanish]]. Vowel breaking was completely absent in [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] and [[Catalan language|Catalan]]. The result of breaking varies between languages: ''e'' and ''o'' became ''ie'' and ''ue'' in Spanish, ''ie'' and ''uo'' in Italian, and ''ie'' and ''eu'' {{IPA|/ø/}} in French.
+Many [[Romance languages]] underwent vowel breaking. The [[Vulgar Latin]] open vowels ''e'' {{IPA|/ɛ/}} and ''o'' {{IPA|/ɔ/}} in [[stress (linguistics)|stressed]] position underwent breaking only in open syllables in [[French language|French]] and [[Italian language|Italian]], but in both open and closed syllables in [[Spanish language|Spanish]]. Vowel breaking was mostly absent in [[Catalan language|Catalan]], in which {{IPA|/ɛ/}} and {{IPA|/ɔ/}} became diphthongs only before a palatal consonant: Latin coxa 'thigh', octō 'eight', lectum 'bed' > Old Catalan {{IPA|*/kuoiʃa/}}, {{IPA|*/uoit/}}, {{IPA|*/lieit/}}. The middle vowel was subsequently lost if a triphthong was produced: Modern Catalan cuixa, vuit, llit (cf. Portuguese coxa, oito, leito). Vowel breaking was completely absent in [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]]. The result of breaking varies between languages: ''e'' and ''o'' became ''ie'' and ''ue'' in Spanish, ''ie'' and ''uo'' in Italian and ''ie'' and ''eu'' {{IPA|/ø/}} in French.
 In the table below, words with breaking are bolded.
@@ Line 73: / Line 87: @@
 {| class="wikitable"
 |-
-! [[Syllable#Structure|Syllable shape]]
+! [[Syllable#Open and closed|Syllable shape]]
 ! Latin
 ! Spanish
@@ Line 81: / Line 95: @@
 ! Catalan
 |-
-! [[Syllable#Structure|Open]]
+! [[Syllable#Open and closed|Open]]
 | p<u>e</u>tram, f<u>o</u>cum
 ! p<u>ie</u>dra, f<u>ue</u>go
@@ Line 89: / Line 103: @@
 | p<u>e</u>dra, f<u>o</u>c
 |-
-! [[Syllable#Structure|Closed]]
+! [[Syllable#Open and closed|Closed]]
 | f<u>e</u>stam, p<u>o</u>rtam
 ! f<u>ie</u>sta, p<u>ue</u>rta
@@ Line 114: / Line 128: @@
 ====Quebec French====
 {{Main|Quebec French phonology}}
-In [[Quebec French]], long vowels are generally diphthongized in the last syllable.
+In [[Quebec French]], long vowels are generally diphthongized when followed by a consonant in the same syllable (even when a final [ʁ] is optionally made silent).
-* ''tard'' {{IPA|[tɑːʁ]}} → {{IPA|[tɑɔ̯ʁ]}}
+* ''tard'' {{IPA|[tɑːʁ]}} → {{IPA|[tɑɔ̯ʁ]}}; but not in ''tardif'' (because short a)
 * ''père'' {{IPA|[pɛːʁ]}} → {{IPA|[paɛ̯ʁ]}}
-* ''fleur'' {{IPA|[flœːʁ]}} → {{IPA|[flaœ̯ʁ]}}
+* ''fleur'' {{IPA|[flœːʁ]}} → {{IPA|[flɶœ̯ʁ]}}; but not in ''fleuriste'' (long œ is at end of syllable)
-* ''fort'' {{IPA|[fɔːʁ]}} → {{IPA|[fɑɔ̯ʁ]}}
+* ''fort'' {{IPA|[fɔːʁ]}} → {{IPA|[fɑɔ̯ʁ]}}; but not ''forte'' (short o)
-* ''autre'' {{IPA|[oːtʁ̥]}} → {{IPA|[ou̯tʁ̥]}}
+* ''autre'' {{IPA|[oːtʁ̥]}} → {{IPA|[ou̯tʁ̥]}}; but not ''autrement'' (long o is at end of syllable)
-* ''neutre'' {{IPA|[nøːtʁ̥]}} → {{IPA|[nøy̯tʁ̥]}}
+* ''neutre'' {{IPA|[nøːtʁ̥]}} → {{IPA|[nøy̯tʁ̥]}}; but not ''neutralité'' (long ø is at end of syllable)
-* ''pince'' {{IPA|[pɛ̃ːs]}} → {{IPA|[pẽɪ̯̃s]}}
+* ''pince'' {{IPA|[pɛ̃ːs]}} → {{IPA|[pãɛ̃s]}}; or {{IPA|[pẽːs]}} → {{IPA|[pẽɪ̯̃s]}}; but not ''pincer''
-* ''onze'' {{IPA|[ɔ̃ːz]}} → {{IPA|[õʊ̯̃z]}}
+* ''onze'' {{IPA|[õːz]}} → {{IPA|[õʊ̯̃z]}}; but not ''onzième''
 === Proto-Indo-European ===
-Some scholars<ref>[[Francis Normier|F. Normier]], in: ''[[Historische Sprachforschung|Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung]]'' 91 (1977) 171-218; [[Jared S. Klein|J.S. Klein]], in: ''Die Laryngaltheorie und die Rekonstruktion des indogermanischen Laut- und Formensystems'', Heidelberg 1988, 257-279; [[Birgit Anette Olsen|Olsen, Birgit Anette]], in: ''Proceedings of the fourth international conference on Armenian linguistics, Cleveland's State University, Cleveland, Ohio, September 14-18, 1991'', Delmar (NY) 1992, 129-146; [[Jens Elmegård Rasmussen|J.E. Rasmussen]], in: ''Selected Papers on Indo-European Linguistics'', Copenhagen 1999, 442-458.</ref> believe that [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] (PIE) ''i, u'' had a kind of breaking before an original [[laryngeal theory|laryngeal]] in [[Ancient Greek language|Greek]], [[Armenian language|Armenian]] and [[Tocharian languages|Tocharian]], whereas the other Indo-European languages have monophthongs:
+Some scholars<ref>[[Francis Normier|F. Normier]], in: ''[[Historische Sprachforschung|Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung]]'' 91 (1977) 171-218; [[Jared S. Klein|J.S. Klein]], in: ''Die Laryngaltheorie und die Rekonstruktion des indogermanischen Laut- und Formensystems'', Heidelberg 1988, 257-279; [[Birgit Anette Olsen|Olsen, Birgit Anette]], in: ''Proceedings of the fourth international conference on Armenian linguistics, Cleveland's State University, Cleveland, Ohio, September 14–18, 1991'', Delmar (NY) 1992, 129-146; [[Jens Elmegård Rasmussen|J.E. Rasmussen]], in: ''Selected Papers on Indo-European Linguistics'', Copenhagen 1999, 442-458.</ref> believe that [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] (PIE) ''i, u'' had vowel-breaking before an original [[laryngeal theory|laryngeal]] in [[Ancient Greek language|Greek]], [[Armenian language|Armenian]] and [[Tocharian languages|Tocharian]] but that the other Indo-European languages kept the monophthongs:
-* [[Proto Indo-European language|PIE]] *''{{PIE|gʷih<sub>3</sub>wos}}'' → *''{{PIE|gʷioHwos}}'' "alive" → [[Ancient Greek language|Gk.]] {{lang|grc|ζωός}}, [[Tocharian languages|Toch. B]] ''śāw-, śāy-'' (but [[Sanskrit|Skt.]] ''jīvá-'', [[Latin|Lat.]] ''vīvus'')
+* [[Proto Indo-European language|PIE]] *''{{PIE|gʷih<sub>3</sub>wos}}'' → *''{{PIE|gʷioHwos}}'' "alive" → [[Ancient Greek language|Gk.]] {{lang|grc|ζωός}} ''zōós'', [[Tocharian languages|Toch. B]] ''śāw-, śāy-'' (but [[Sanskrit|Skt.]] ''jīvá-'', [[Latin|Lat.]] ''vīvus'')
-* [[Proto Indo-European language|PIE]] *''{{PIE|protih<sub>3</sub>kʷom}}'' → *''{{PIE|protioHkʷom}}'' "front side" → [[Ancient Greek language|Gk.]] {{lang|grc|πρόσωπον}} "face", [[Tocharian languages|Toch. B]] ''pratsāko'' "breast" (but [[Sanskrit|Skt.]] ''prátīka-'')
+* [[Proto Indo-European language|PIE]] *''{{PIE|protih<sub>3</sub>kʷom}}'' → *''{{PIE|protioHkʷom}}'' "front side" → [[Ancient Greek language|Gk.]] {{lang|grc|πρόσωπον}} ''prósōpon'' "face", [[Tocharian languages|Toch. B]] ''pratsāko'' "breast" (but [[Sanskrit|Skt.]] ''prátīka-'')
-* [[Proto Indo-European language|PIE]] *''{{PIE|duh<sub>2</sub>ros}}'' → *''{{PIE|duaHros}}'' "long" → [[Ancient Greek language|Gk.]] {{lang|grc|δηρός}}, [[Armenian language|Arm.]] *''twār'' → ''erkar'' ([[Sanskrit|Skt.]] ''dūrá-'', [[Latin|Lat.]] ''dūrus'').
+* [[Proto Indo-European language|PIE]] *''{{PIE|duh<sub>2</sub>ros}}'' → *''{{PIE|duaHros}}'' "long" → [[Ancient Greek language|Gk.]] {{lang|grc|δηρός}} ''dērós'', [[Armenian language|Arm.]] *''twār'' → ''erkar'' ([[Sanskrit|Skt.]] ''dūrá-'', [[Latin|Lat.]] ''dūrus'').
 However, the hypothesis has not been widely adopted.
+== Non-Indo-European languages ==
+=== Austronesian languages ===
+Some languages in [[Sumatra]] have vowel breaking processes, almost exclusively in syllable-final position. In [[Minangkabau language|Minangkabau]], the [[Proto-Malayic language|Proto-Malayic]] vowels ''*i'' and ''*u'' are broken to ''ia'' and ''ua'' before word-final ''*h'', ''*k'', ''*l'', ''*ŋ'', ''*r'' (''*təlur'' > ''*təluar'' > ''talua'' "egg").<ref>{{Cite book |last=Adelaar |first=K. Alexander |title=Proto-Malayic: The Reconstruction of its Phonology and Parts of its Lexicon and Morphology |date=1992 |publisher=Dept. of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, The Australian National University |series=Pacific Linguistics, Series C, no. 119 |location=Canberra |doi=10.15144/PL-C119 |hdl=1885/145782 |isbn=978-0-85883-408-8 |hdl-access=free}}</ref> In [[Rejang language|Rejang]], the [[Proto-Malayo-Polynesian language|Proto-Malayo-Polynesian]] vowels ''*ə'', ''i'', and ''u'' are broken to ''êa'', ''ea'', and ''oa'' before any of word-final consonants above except ''*k'' and ''*ŋ'' (''*tənur'' > ''*tənoar'' > ''tênoa'' "egg").<ref name="reflex">{{cite web|url=http://www.ohio.edu/people/mcginn/Irreg_Reflex.pdf|title=Some Irregular Reflexes of Proto-Malayo-Polynesian Vowels in the Rejang Language of Sumatra|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808113107/http://www.ohio.edu/people/mcginn/Irreg_Reflex.pdf |archive-date=2017-08-08 }}</ref> This process has been [[transphonologization|transphonologized]] by loss of ''*l'' and ''*r'' and merging of several word-final consonants into a [[glottal stop]] (''*p'', ''*t'', ''*k'' in Minangkabau, or ''*k'', ''*h'' in most dialects of Rejang except Kebanagung).
+Word-final Proto-Malayo-Polynesian ''*-i'' and ''*-u'' were also broken in Sumatra. In Rejang, these vowels are broken into ''-ai'' and ''-au'' in ''Pesisir'' dialect, or into ''-êi'' and ''-êu'' elsewhere.<ref name="reflex"/>
 ==See also==
 *[[Smoothing (phonetics)]]
-*[[Unpacking]]
+*[[Unpacking (linguistics)]]
-==References==
+== References ==
 {{Reflist}}
+== Bibliography ==
 *Crowley, Terry. (1997) ''An Introduction to Historical Linguistics.'' 3rd edition. Oxford University Press.
+{{Authority control}}
 {{DEFAULTSORT:Vowel Breaking}}