Centralization (vowel)

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Vowels
  front   central   back
 closed
Blank vowel trapezoid.svg
​i​  •  y​​
​ɨ​  •  ʉ​​
​ɯ​  •  u​​
​ɪ​  •  ʏ​​
​ʊ​
​e​  •  ø​​
​ɘ​  •  ɵ​​
​ɤ​  •  o​​
​ə​
​ɛ​  •  œ​​
​ɜ​  •  ɞ​​
​ʌ​  •  ɔ​​
​æ​
​ɐ​
​a​  •  ɶ​​
​ɑ​  •  ɒ​​
 almost closed
 half closed
 medium
 half open
 almost open
 open
For pairs of symbols (u • g) the left symbol stands for the
unrounded vowel, the right symbol for the rounded vowel.
IPA mark ◌̈
IPA number 415
IPA character description Trema
Unicode U + 0308
HTML (dec.) & # 776;
X-SAMPA _"
Kirshenbaum
IPA mark ◌̽
IPA number 416
IPA character description lowercase lowercase x
Unicode U + 033D
HTML (dec.) & # 829;
X-SAMPA
Kirshenbaum

In linguistics is centralization (also weakening , vocal attenuation , vowel weakening or Vokalverdumpfung ) for the displacement of the tongue at the articulation of vowels in the middle region in the direction of the central vowel [⁠ ə ⁠] ( schwa ).

Examples:

  • the unstressed vowels in English
  • the unstressed e in German final syllables

Under centralizing the center is understood not a phonetic shift to central vowel [⁠ ə ⁠] , wherein the degree of mouth opening changes, but a displacement of the tongue towards the center position with unchanged mouth opening. A centralized back to the middle [⁠ u ⁠] would accordingly towards [⁠ ʉ ⁠] shifted, a centralized [⁠ u ⁠] contrast towards [⁠ ʊ ⁠] .

In the International Phonetic Alphabet , these two forms of sound displacement in the vowel are marked by the diacritics ◌̈ ( Unicode COMBINING DIAERESIS U + 0308) for centralization and ◌̽ (Unicode COMBINING X ABOVE U + 033D) for centralization towards the middle.

Under vowel weakening in inner syllables is defined as the conversion of a strong vowel in attaching a prefix to a weaker such. The internal vowel weakening occurs very often in Latin. Therefore, here are examples from Latin:

  • From facere ( "to make", "do") and ad ( "forward", "add" to "... go") is ( "Add" in definition) afficere . The strong “a” in facere becomes an “i”. In afficere there is also the effect of assimilation (adjustment) ( ad + facere → afficere ).
  • In the same way, capere (“take”, “take”) becomes accipere (“accept”, “take”, “take in”) after adding the prefix ad . Here, too, there is an additional effect of assimilation.

See also:

literature