Editing Germanic umlaut (section)

== Umlaut in Germanic verbs ==
<!-- This section is linked from [[Rückumlaut]] -->

Some interesting examples of umlaut involve vowel distinctions in Germanic verbs. Although these are often subsumed under the heading "ablaut" in tables of Germanic irregular verbs, they are a separate phenomenon. 

=== Present stem Umlaut in strong verbs ===

A variety of umlaut occurs in the second and third person singular forms of the present tense of some [[Germanic strong verb]]s. For example, German {{lang|de|fangen}} ("to catch") has the present tense {{lang|de|ich fange, du fängst, er fängt}}. The verb {{lang|de|geben}} ("give") has the present tense {{lang|de|ich gebe, du gibst, er gibt}}, but the shift {{lang|de|e}}→{{lang|de|i}} would not be a normal result of umlaut in German. There are, in fact, two distinct phenomena at play here; the first is indeed umlaut as it is best known, but the second is older and occurred already in Proto-Germanic itself. In both cases, a following {{lang|gem-x-proto|i}} triggered a vowel change, but in Proto-Germanic, it affected only {{lang|gem-x-proto|e}}. The effect on back vowels did not occur until hundreds of years later, after the Germanic languages had already begun to split up: {{lang|gem-x-proto|*fą̄haną}}, {{lang|gem-x-proto|*fą̄hidi}} with no umlaut of {{lang|gem-x-proto|a}}, but {{lang|gem-x-proto|*gebaną}}, {{lang|gem-x-proto|*gibidi}} with umlaut of {{lang|gem-x-proto|e}}.

===Present stem Umlaut in weak verbs ({{lang|de|Rückumlaut}})<span class="anchor" id="Rückumlaut"></span> ===

The German word {{lang|de|Rückumlaut}} ("reverse umlaut"), sometimes known in English as "unmutation",{{sfnp |Curme |1952 |pp=315–316}} is a term given to the vowel distinction between present and preterite forms of certain [[Germanic weak verb]]s. These verbs exhibit the dental suffix used to form the preterite of weak verbs, and also exhibit what appears to be the vowel gradation characteristic of strong verbs. Examples in English are think/thought, bring/brought, tell/told, sell/sold. The phenomenon can also be observed in some German verbs including {{lang|de|brennen/brannte}} ("burn/burnt"), {{lang|de|kennen/kannte}} ("know/knew"), and a handful of others. In some dialects, particularly of western Germany, the phenomenon is preserved in many more forms (for example [[Luxembourgish language|Luxembourgish]] {{lang|lb|stellen/gestallt}}, "to put", and [[Limburgish language|Limburgish]] {{lang|li|tèlle/talj/getaldj}}, "to tell, count"). The cause lies with the insertion of the semivowel {{IPA|/j/}} between the verb stem and inflectional ending.{{sfnp |Paul |1966 |pp=159–160}} This {{IPA|/j/}} triggers umlaut, as explained [[Germanic umlaut#Description|above]]. In short-stem verbs, the {{IPA|/j/}} is present in both the present and preterite. In long-stem verbs however, the {{IPA|/j/}} fell out of the preterite.{{sfnp |Paul |1966 |pp=159–160}} Thus, while short-stem verbs exhibit umlaut in all tenses, long-stem verbs only do so in the present. When the German philologist Jacob Grimm first attempted to explain the phenomenon, he assumed that the lack of umlaut in the preterite resulted from the reversal of umlaut.{{sfnp |Paul |1966 |pp=159–160}} In actuality, umlaut never occurred in the first place. Nevertheless, the term "Rückumlaut" makes some sense since the verb exhibits a shift from an umlauted vowel in the basic form (the infinitive) to a plain vowel in the respective inflections.

=== Umlaut as a subjunctive marker ===

In German, some verbs that display a back vowel in the past tense undergo umlaut in the [[subjunctive mood]]: {{lang|de|singen/sang}} (ind.) → {{lang|de|sänge}} (subj.) ("sing/sang"); {{lang|de|fechten/focht}} (ind.) → {{lang|de|föchte}} (subj.) ("fence/fenced"). Again, this is due to the presence of a following {{lang|goh|i}} in the [[optative mood|optative]] verb endings in the [[Old High German]] period.