Definition of "ablaut"

ablaut

/ˈɑbˌlaʊt/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural ablauts
1. (phonology) The substitution of one root vowel for another, thus indicating a corresponding modification of use or meaning; vowel permutation, distinct from the phonetic influence of a succeeding vowel.
verb
third-person singular simple present ablauts, present participle ablauting, simple past and past participle ablauted
1. (intransitive, linguistics, of a vowel-containing linguistic component) To undergo a change of vowel.
  Quotations
  This root must once have ablauted, given the associated nominal derivatives prthii- 'broad', prthivl- 'earth'. However, it does not ablaut at all in its verbal forms.
  1983, Stephanie W. Jamison, Function and Form in the -áya-formations of the Rig Veda and ...‎, page 209
  What we find is that one cannot predict which members of V a given member of E will cause to ablaut
  1985, Michael E. Krauss, Yupik Eskimo prosodic systems: descriptive and comparative studies‎, page 241
  It is these co-opted verbs that tend to ablaut variably in the different Dakotan dialects and that forced morphological restructuring
  2006, Felix K. Ameka, Alan Charles Dench, Nicholas Evans, Catching language: the standing challenge of grammar writing‎, page 536
  This allomorph also causes the back vowel to ablaut to a low vowel.
  2012, Bernard Comrie, Zarina Estrada Fernández, Relative Clauses in Languages of the Americas: A Typological Overview‎, page 219
2. (transitive, linguistics) To cause to change a vowel.

Definition of "ablaut"

ablaut

noun

verb

Quotations