Vowel harmony

Vowel harmony is a phonological pattern in which vowels within a word agree in features such as frontness or rounding. It shapes which vowel forms can occur together, often across multiple syllables.

ATR harmony: A vowel harmony system in which vowels agree in the position of the tongue root. Tongue-root advancement is one feature that can spread across a word.
Vowel: A speech sound produced without a substantial obstruction of airflow through the vocal tract. Vowel harmony operates on relations among vowels within a phonological domain.
Turkish phonology: The sound system of Turkish, including vowel harmony that shapes many suffix vowels. Turkish suffixes commonly vary to match features of vowels in the stem.
Consonant harmony: A phonological pattern in which consonants within a word agree in one or more features. It parallels vowel harmony but involves consonants rather than vowels.
Vowel harmony in Turkic languages: A family of vowel harmony patterns found across Turkic languages, with variation among branches. Comparing Turkic languages reveals how a shared pattern changes over time.
Vowel harmony domain: The portion of a word or phrase within which a phonological harmony pattern applies. Harmony may stop at a boundary even when a word contains further vowels.
Vowel backness: The position of the tongue along the front-to-back dimension when producing a vowel. Frontness and backness are common features that harmonizing vowels share.
Finnish phonology: The sound system of Finnish, including front–back vowel harmony across many words. Finnish illustrates how harmony can restrict which vowels co-occur within a word.
Vowel assimilation: A sound change in which a vowel becomes more like a nearby sound in one or more features. Assimilation can affect a single vowel locally, while harmony often spans a domain.
Agglutinative language: A language in which words commonly combine several clearly segmentable affixes with a stem. Suffix-rich morphology creates repeated contexts in which harmony can shape affix forms.

Linked from 20 pages