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. Historical linguistics (also diachronic linguistics or comparative linguistics) is primarily the study of the ways in which languages change over time. ... Sound shift can refer to: Chain shift Vowel shift This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Assimilation is a regular and frequent sound change process by which a phoneme changes to match an adjacent phoneme in a word. ...
Progressive metaphony is also called vowel harmony, and is discussed fully in the article under that heading. However, some linguists use the term "vowel harmony" for regressive metaphony too. Vowel harmony (also metaphony) is a type of long-distance assimilatory phonological process involving vowels. ...
Examples of regressive metaphony are i-mutation and a-mutation. (On i-mutation in Germanic languages see also umlaut.) I-mutation is what umlaut is called when it applies to English. ... A-mutation was a vowel harmony process that took place at the late Proto-Germanic stage (perhaps around 200 AD), and caused a high vowel to become lowered when a following syllable contained a non-high vowel (not just /a/; hence the term is a misnomer). ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The word umlaut is used in both linguistic and typographic senses. ...
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.
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 also called vowel harmony, and is discussed fully in the article under that heading.
Affection (linguistics) - an example of this in another language family is the parallel phenomenon in Celtic languages, usually referred to as "affection".
Vowel harmony and metaphony - more broadly still, some writers use the word umlaut to refer to any example of metaphony, or "regressive vowel harmony".
A-mutation - an example of this is a-mutation, the velarisation of vowels caused by an original back vowel in a following syllable, which is occasionally referred to as a-umlaut.
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