Back to Matrix [y] → [a] Edit this Data

[a]→[y]Certainty: 3/5Commonality: 1/5

Fronting Raising Rounding Austronesian Germanic

Open front unrounded vowel to Close front rounded vowel

The transformation from 'a' to 'y' is a complex and rare shift involving simultaneous fronting, raising, and rounding. Usually occurring through intermediate stages, it results in a low back vowel jumping to the high front rounded position of the vowel space.

Phonetic Effects

Fronting, Raising, Rounding

Language Examples

Bolinao Austronesian

ako + ana→akoyna— Morphophonemic fronting/rounding of vowels.

Germanic (indirectly) Germanic

Proto-Germ *a→Old High German y [y:]— Usually via intermediate steps like a -> e -> i -> y (rounding from surrounding labials).

Related Transformations

Reverse fronting step rounding/fronting

More Raising Shifts

[ã] → [õ] — Raising [a] → [ã] — Assimilatory Nasalization [a] → [∅] — Elision [a] → [ʔ] — Glottalization [a] → [ə] — Vowel Reduction

Sources & References

Blust, R. (2013). The Austronesian Languages. Pacific Linguistics.

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