In linguistics the term is used in a variety of closely related ways, some narrower, some broader. These are discussed in several different articles.
- Germanic Umlaut - in its original, narrowest sense, Umlaut is the fronting of vowels in a Germanic language caused by assimilation to an original front vowel in the following syllable, especially viewed diachronically.
- --- Umlaut (diacritic) - derived from this, the umlaut diacritic is a method of representing the synchronic results of Germanic Umlaut in German spelling, and subsequently in other languages which borrowed the symbol.
- --- Heavy Metal Umlaut - the umlaut diacritic has been used for sensational spellings in the rock music scene.
- I-mutation - used more broadly, the term umlaut is sometimes used to refer to the same phenomenon in any language, including non-Germanic languages. A less controversial term is "i-mutation".
- --- Affection (linguistics) - an example of this in another language family is the parallel phenomenon in Celtic languages, usually referred to as "affection".
- Vowel Harmony and Metaphony - more broadly still, some writers use the word umlaut to refer to any example of metaphony, or "regressive vowel harmony".
- --- A-mutation - an example of this is a-mutation, the velarisation of vowels caused by an original back vowel in a following syllable, which is occasionally referred to as a-umlaut.
- Apophony - viewed synchronically, umlaut is an example of apophony or vowel alternation, although the use of the term as a synonym for apophony is erroneous.
- --- Indo-European Ablaut - in particular, the confusion of umlaut with ablaut is is common and erroneous.
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