a vowel whose quality or length is changed to indicate linguistic distinctions (such as sing sang sung song)
Used in a Sentence
ablaut
How to use ablaut in a sentence. Example sentences and definitions for ablaut.
Editorial note
The author of the article is suggesting that we use these weird ablaut/umlaut morphs in place of the preterite. For example, "I thought" would then become "I thunk".
Examples9
Definitions1
Parts of speech1
Quick take
a vowel whose quality or length is changed to indicate linguistic distinctions (such as sing sang sung song)
Meaning at a glance
The clearest senses and uses of ablaut gathered in one view.
Definitions
Core meanings and parts of speech for ablaut.
noun
a vowel whose quality or length is changed to indicate linguistic distinctions (such as sing sang sung song)
Example sentences
The author of the article is suggesting that we use these weird ablaut/umlaut morphs in place of the preterite. For example, "I thought" would then become "I thunk".
The rule of course then goes deeper, into ablaut reduplication and so on. People master spoken English without knowing anything [0] about it.
And, of course, ablaut preservation in strong verbs: "singen, sang, gesungen". English somehow managed to preserve this particular barrel of fun.
Proto-indo-european also had extensive use of ablaut, and a dual number.
If you read his post carefully, you'll see that the author isn't aware of distinction between past simple and present perfect, let alone of ablaut: he confuses "swam" and "swum" and then proceeds to use the newly invented past tense form of "cutch" in present perfect. 3.
That seems quite a stretch, when proto-Indo-European ablaut explains the exact same phenomenon. Also, Germanic strong verbs tend to be relatively primitive vocabulary -- go, sleep, drink, sing...
German has many of the same ablaut series as english, so where english has sink-sank-sunk and wink-winked-winked, the corresponding german cognates have sinken-sank-gesunken and winken-winkte-gewinkt. But many people now use the early 70ies joke "gewunken" and think that "gewinkt" sounds weird.
Quote examples
Some people call ablaut verbs irregular, but almost all of them are in fact regular. They only seem irregular because there are relatively few of them left to group together [1]. But I'm not aware of any language with a single pattern of conjugation. Many have 10 or more. 1. Ex.: Drive-drove-driven, write-wrote-written, ride-rode-ridden, etc. While they follow a different conjugation pattern, most ablaut verbs are perfectly regular.
It's thought to be a combination of colloquialisms + the Indo-European ablaut system, wherein vowels would change depending on conjugation. Consider how many English irregular verbs follow a pattern. Sing, sang, sung. Ring, rang, rung. These are ablaut conjugations.
Frequently asked questions
Short answers drawn from the clearest meanings and examples for this word.
How do you use ablaut in a sentence?
The author of the article is suggesting that we use these weird ablaut/umlaut morphs in place of the preterite. For example, "I thought" would then become "I thunk".
What does ablaut mean?
a vowel whose quality or length is changed to indicate linguistic distinctions (such as sing sang sung song)
What part of speech is ablaut?
ablaut is commonly used as noun.