Monophthongization
A monophthonging is a phonetic change that turns a diphthong into a monophthong .
Monophthonging in German
The so-called early New High German monophthonging is particularly important for today's German . She changed the diphthongs ie [ iə ], uo [ uə ] and üe [ yə ] to ie [ iː ], u [ uː ] and ü [ yː ] (words: dear guote brothers to dear good brothers ).
The New High German monophthonging started in the 11th century from the middle of the German-speaking area. Bavarian and Alemannic dialects in the south did not accept the changes and remain in the older language.
Monophthongization in other languages
In the history of the Slavic languages , monophthonging is a sub-process of the tendency towards increasing syllable monotony .
In the Semitic languages , monophthonging is the basis for the appearance of the vowels / e / (from / ay /) and / o / (from / aw /).