apophony
|a-po-pho-ny|
🇺🇸
/əˈpɑːfəni/
🇬🇧
/əˈpɒfəni/
alternating sounds within a word
Etymology
'apophony' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'apophōnía', where 'apo-' meant 'away' and 'phōnē' meant 'sound' or 'voice'.
'apophony' entered scholarly usage via Neo-Latin/19th-century linguistic terminology (e.g. German 'Apophonie' and Neo-Latin 'apophonia') and was adopted into modern English as 'apophony'.
Initially in Greek it conveyed the idea of 'lack of voice' or being 'without sound', but in modern linguistic usage it came to mean 'alternation of sounds within a word' used to mark grammatical or lexical contrasts.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
a systematic alternation of sounds (especially vowels) within a word that signals grammatical or lexical contrasts (for example, English strong verbs: sing → sang → sung).
The alternation of vowel sounds in English strong verbs (sing, sang, sung) is a classic example of apophony.
Synonyms
Noun 2
in historical linguistics, specifically the ablaut-type alternations of vowels or consonants used in inflectional paradigms and derivation (e.g., Proto-Indo-European ablaut patterns).
Apophony (ablaut) was important for reconstructing verb classes in Proto-Indo-European studies.
Synonyms
Last updated: 2025/09/21 07:00