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In historical linguistics, metaphony is a class of sound change in which one vowel in a word is influenced by another in a process of assimilation. The sound change is normally "long-distance" in that the vowel triggering the change may be separated from the affected vowel by several consonants, or sometimes even by several syllables.

For more discussion, see the article on vowel harmony.

There are two types:

Progressive (or left-to-right) metaphony, in which a vowel towards the beginning of a word influences a subsequent vowel.
Regressive (or right-to-left) metaphony, in which a vowel towards the end of the word influences a preceding vowel.

Metaphony is closely related to some other linguistic concepts:

Vowel harmony is sometimes used synonymously with metaphony. Usually, however, "vowel harmony" refers specifically to a synchronic process operating in a particular language, normally requiring all vowels in a word to agree in a particular feature (e.g. vowel height or vowel backness). Most commonly, the triggering vowel is in the first syllable of the word (i.e., this is a type of progressive metaphony), as in Turkish, Finnish or Hungarian. In some cases, however, the triggering vowel is in the last syllable, typically a suffix, as in many varieties of Andalusian Spanish.
Umlaut refers to regressive metaphony, usually specifically of a diachronic type operating in the history of a language. The term "umlaut" is found especially in the Germanic languages (see Germanic umlaut). In some other languages, other terms are used instead for the same process (e.g. affection in Old Irish, simply metaphony in the Romance languages).

References

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+{{Short description|Class of vowel change}}
-In [[historical linguistics]], '''metaphony''' is a general term for a class of [[sound shift]] in which one vowel in a word is influenced by another in a process of [[assimilation]].
+{{See also|Metaphony (Romance languages)}}
+{{Unreferenced|date=December 2009}}
-We can distinguish ''progressive'' metaphony, in which a vowel early in the word influences a subsequent vowel, from ''regressive'' metaphony, in which a vowel towards the end of the word influences a preceding vowel.  (Progressive metaphony is sometimes called "left-to-right" metaphony, and regressive metaphony may be called "right-to-left" metaphony.  These terms run into problems, however, when describing languages such as the [[Semitic]] family, which use scripts running in the opposite direction.)
+{{Sound change}}
+In [[historical linguistics]], '''metaphony''' is a class of [[sound change]] in which one vowel in a word is influenced by another in a process of [[assimilation (linguistics)|assimilation]]. The sound change is normally "long-distance" in that the vowel triggering the change may be separated from the affected vowel by several consonants, or sometimes even by several syllables.
-Progressive metaphony is also called [[vowel harmony]], and is discussed fully in the article under that heading.
+For more discussion, see the article on [[vowel harmony]].
-Examples of regressive metaphony are [[i-mutation]] and [[a-mutation]].  (On i-mutation in [[Germanic languages]] see also [[umlaut]].)
+There are two types:
-[[Category:Historical linguistics]]
+*''Progressive'' (or ''left-to-right'') metaphony, in which a vowel towards the beginning of a word influences a subsequent vowel.
+*''Regressive'' (or ''right-to-left'') metaphony, in which a vowel towards the end of the word influences a preceding vowel.
+Metaphony is closely related to some other linguistic concepts:
+*''[[Vowel harmony]]'' is sometimes used synonymously with metaphony. Usually, however, "vowel harmony" refers specifically to a [[synchronic analysis|synchronic]] process operating in a particular language, normally requiring all vowels in a word to agree in a particular feature (e.g. [[vowel height]] or [[vowel backness]]). Most commonly, the triggering vowel is in the first syllable of the word (i.e., this is a type of progressive metaphony), as in [[Turkish language|Turkish]], [[Finnish language|Finnish]] or [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]]. In some cases, however, the triggering vowel is in the last syllable, typically a suffix, as in many varieties of [[Andalusian Spanish]].
+*''[[Umlaut (linguistics)|Umlaut]]'' refers to regressive metaphony, usually specifically of a [[diachronic linguistics|diachronic]] type operating in the history of a language. The term "umlaut" is found especially in the [[Germanic languages]] (see [[Germanic umlaut]]). In some other languages, other terms are used instead for the same process (e.g. ''[[affection (linguistics)|affection]]'' in [[Old Irish]], simply ''[[Metaphony (Romance languages)|metaphony]]'' in the [[Romance languages]]).
+==See also==
+* [[Metaphony (Romance languages)]]
+* [[Apophony]]
+* [[Metathesis (linguistics)|Metathesis]]
+* [[Vowel harmony]]
+* [[Umlaut (linguistics)|Umlaut]]
+==References==
+{{reflist}}
+[[Category:Linguistic morphology]]
+[[Category:Assimilation (linguistics)]]
+{{ling-morph-stub}}
+{{historical-linguistics-stub}}