historical linguistics Historical linguistics, also termed diachronic linguistics, is the scientific study of language change over time. Principal concerns of historical linguistics include: # to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages # ...

, vowel breaking, vowel fracture, or diphthongization is the

sound change A sound change, in historical linguistics, is a change in the pronunciation of a language. A sound change can involve the replacement of one speech sound (or, more generally, one phonetic feature value) by a different one (called phonetic chang ...

of a

monophthong A monophthong ( ; , ) is a pure vowel sound, one whose articulation at both beginning and end is relatively fixed, and which does not glide up or down towards a new position of articulation. The monophthongs can be contrasted with diphthongs, wh ...

into a

diphthong A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech o ...

triphthong In phonetics, a triphthong (, ) (from Greek τρίφθογγος, "triphthongos", literally "with three sounds," or "with three tones") is a monosyllabic vowel combination involving a quick but smooth movement of the articulator from one vowel q ...

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 (a back vowel) if the following vowel or consonant is back (such as

velar Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth (known also as the velum). Since the velar region of the roof of the mouth is relatively extensive a ...

or pharyngeal), and the second segment may be (a front vowel) if the following vowel or consonant is front (such as

palatal The palate () is the roof of the mouth in humans and other mammals. It separates the oral cavity from the nasal cavity. A similar structure is found in crocodilians, but in most other tetrapods, the oral and nasal cavities are not truly separ ...

). 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 The Great Vowel Shift was a series of changes in the pronunciation of the English language that took place primarily between 1400 and 1700, beginning in southern England and today having influenced effectively all dialects of English. Through ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

in which all cases of and changed to diphthongs.

Stress

Vowel breaking sometimes occurs only in stressed syllables. For instance,

Vulgar Latin Vulgar Latin, also known as Popular or Colloquial Latin, is the range of non-formal Register (sociolinguistics), registers of Latin spoken from the Crisis of the Roman Republic, Late Roman Republic onward. Through time, Vulgar Latin would evolve ...

open-mid and changed to diphthongs only when they were stressed.

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:

Southern American English

Vowel breaking is characteristic of the "Southern drawl" of

Southern American English Southern American English or Southern U.S. English is a regional dialect or collection of dialects of American English spoken throughout the Southern United States, though concentrated increasingly in more rural areas, and spoken primarily by Wh ...

, where the short

front vowel A front vowel is a class of vowel sounds used in some spoken languages, its defining characteristic being that the highest point of the tongue is positioned as far forward as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would otherw ...

s have developed a glide up to and then in some areas back down to schwa: ''pat'' , ''pet'' , ''pit'' .

Great Vowel Shift

The

changed the long vowels to diphthongs, which became Modern English . * Old English ' > Modern English ''ice'' * Old English ' > Modern English ''house''

Middle English

In early

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...

, a vowel was inserted between a front vowel and a following (pronounced in this context), and a vowel was inserted between a back vowel and a following (pronounced 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 before a

palatal consonant Palatals are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth). Consonants with the tip of the tongue curled back against the palate are called retroflex. Characteristic ...

and before a

velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth (known also as the velum). Since the velar region of the roof of the mouth is relatively extensive an ...

Old English

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

, 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): * Proto-Germanic > Anglo-Frisian > Old English ''feallan'' "fall" * PG > OE ''eorþe'' "earth" * PG > OE ''liornan'' "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 Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic branc ...

stressed short ''e'' becomes ''ja'' or (before ''u'') ''jǫ'' regularly in

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

except after ''w, r, l''. Examples are: * PG *''ek(a)'' "I" → (east) ON ''jak'',

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

''jag'',

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

and

Norwegian Bokmål Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

''jeg'', and Icelandic ''ek'' → ''ég'' (but

Jutlandic Jutlandic, or Jutish (Danish: ''jysk''; ), is the western variety of Danish, spoken on the peninsula of Jutland in Denmark. Generally, Jutlandic can be divided into two different dialects: general or Northern Jutlandic ( ; further divided into ...

''æ, a'',

Nynorsk Nynorsk () () is one of the two written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language ( no, Landsmål) parallel to the Dano-Nor ...

'). ** Faroese has both. The standard form is ', while the dialects of

Suðuroy Suðuroy (literally South Island, da, Suderø) is the southernmost of the Faroe Islands. The island covers 163.7 square kilometres (63.2 sq mi). In 2018 the population was 4,601. Suðuroy region (sýsla) comprises this island and Lítla ...

have ''jeg''. * PG *''hertōn'' "heart" → ON ''hjarta'',

''hjärta'', Faroese ''hjarta'',

Norwegian Nynorsk Nynorsk () () is one of the two written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language ( no, Landsmål) parallel to the Dano-Nor ...

''hjarta'',

''hjerte'' * PG *''erþō'' "earth" → Proto-Norse *''erþū'' → ON ''jǫrð'',

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

''jord'', Faroese ''jørð'' According to some scholars, the diphthongisation of ''e'' is an unconditioned sound change, whereas other scholars speak about

epenthesis In phonology, epenthesis (; Greek ) means the addition of one or more sounds to a word, especially in the beginning syllable ('' prothesis'') or in the ending syllable (''paragoge'') or in-between two syllabic sounds in a word. The word ''epenth ...

or umlaut.

German and Yiddish

The long high vowels of

Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. High ...

underwent breaking during the transition to

Early New High German Early New High German (ENHG) is a term for the period in the history of the German language generally defined, following Wilhelm Scherer, as the period 1350 to 1650. The term is the standard translation of the German (Fnhd., Frnhd.), introduce ...

: → . In

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

, the diphthongization affected the long mid vowels as well: → * MHG ' → NHG ', yi, אייביק‎, eybik ("eternal") * MHG ' → NHG ', yi, הויך‎, hoykh ("high") * MHG ' → NHG ', yi, שיין‎, sheyn ("nice") * MHG ' → NHG ', yi, שנײַדן, shnaydn ("to cut") * MHG ' → NHG ', yi, פֿרײַנד‎, fraynd ("friend") * MHG ' → NHG ', 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 in words of

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

(in stressed open syllables) or Slavic origin: * he, פסח, pésach → yi, פּסח, peysekh ("

Pesach Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holiday that celebrates the The Exodus, Biblical story of the Israelites escape from slavery in Egypt, which occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, the first month of Aviv, or ...

") * he, מנורה, m'norá → yi, מנורה, mnoyre (" menorah") *

Old Czech The Czech language developed at the close of the 1st millennium from common West Slavic. Until the early 20th century, it was known as ''Bohemian''. Early West Slavic Among the innovations in common West Slavic is the palatalization of ve ...

: ''chřěn'' → yi, כריין, khreyn ("

chrain ( cs, křen; sk, chren; german: Meerrettich or ; pl, chrzan; ro, hrean; russian: хрен, khren; uk, хрiн, khrin; yi, כריין, khreyn; he, חזרת, khazeret; meaning "horseradish" in all these languages) is a spicy paste made of g ...

") * pl, kosz → 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'' Specifically, central dialects have more vowel breaking than others.

Romance languages

Many

Romance languages The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language fam ...

underwent vowel breaking. The

open vowels ''e'' and ''o'' in stressed position underwent breaking only in open syllables in French and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

, but in both open and closed syllables in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

. Vowel breaking was mostly absent in

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

, in which and became diphthongs only before a palatal consonant: Latin coxa 'thigh', octō 'eight', lectum 'bed' > Old Catalan , , . 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 Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

. 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'' in French. In the table below, words with breaking are bolded.

Romanian

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

underwent the general Romance breaking only with , as it did not have : * 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

Quebec French Quebec French (french: français québécois ), also known as Québécois French, is the predominant variety of the French language spoken in Canada. It is the dominant language of the province of Quebec, used in everyday communication, in educa ...

, long vowels are generally diphthongized in the last syllable. * ''tard'' → * ''père'' → * ''fleur'' → * ''fort'' → * ''autre'' → * ''neutre'' → * ''pince'' → * ''onze'' →

Proto-Indo-European

Some scholars 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. believe that

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo-E ...

(PIE) ''i, u'' had vowel-breaking before an original laryngeal in

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

and Tocharian but that the other Indo-European languages kept the monophthongs: *

PIE A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit (as in an apple pie), nuts ( pecan pie), brown sugar ( sugar pie), swe ...

*' → *' "alive" → Gk. , Toch. B ''śāw-, śāy-'' (but Skt. ''jīvá-'', Lat. ''vīvus'') *

*' → *' "front side" → Gk. "face", Toch. B ''pratsāko'' "breast" (but Skt. ''prátīka-'') *

*' → *' "long" → Gk. , Arm. *''twār'' → ''erkar'' ( Skt. ''dūrá-'', Lat. ''dūrus''). However, the hypothesis has not been widely adopted.

References

Bibliography

*Crowley, Terry. (1997) ''An Introduction to Historical Linguistics.'' 3rd edition. Oxford University Press. {{DEFAULTSORT:Vowel Breaking Vowel shifts