[[OIcel phonology]]
# OIcel u-umlaut

OIcel u-umlaut operates actively both at the phonological and morphological level.

| underlying    | result |
| ------------- | ------ |
| `[a -weak]` | `ǫ`    |
| `[a +weak]` | `u`    |

The latter is the result of the restrictive [[OIcel vowel system#Weak]].

## Synchronic
### Phonological

When an inflectional ending contains a <em class="ling">u</em>, each preceding <em class="ling">a</em> transforms as above.[^ph]

- <em class="recon">sag + ur</em> → <em class="ling">sǫgur</em>
- <em class="recon">kall + að + u</em> → <em class="ling">kǫlluðu</em>
- <em class="recon">gefand + um</em> → <em class="ling">gefǫndum</em>

This does not however occur for affixed articles or pronouns

- <em class="ling">hjarta + inu</em> → <em class="ling">hjartanu</em> (not <em class="recon">hjǫrtunu</em>)

[^ph]: 2013, [[@haugenNorroeneGrammatikIm2013|Norröne Grammatik im Überblick: Altisländisch und Altnorwegisch]], §22.1 (rule 1)

### Morphological

Some paradigms of noun and adjective declension exhibit umlaut in the apparent absence of <em class="ling">u</em>.
This is typically the result of a historic <em class="recon">u</em> that later disappeared (see below),
but this should be regarded as morphologized by OIcel.[^mo]

[^mo]: 2013, [[@haugenNorroeneGrammatikIm2013|Norröne Grammatik im Überblick: Altisländisch und Altnorwegisch]], §23 (rule 18)

## Diachronic

Historically u-umlaut was much more widespread, affecting most unrounded vowels.[^di]


- `i -> y`, e.g. <em class="recon">singwan</em> > <em class="ling">syngva</em> (from <em class="ling">syngva</em>)
- `e -> ø`, e.g. <em class="recon">gerwan</em> > <em class="ling">gørva</em> (alternate form of <em class="ling">gera</em>)
- `a -> ǫ`, e.g. <em class="recon">landu</em> > <em class="ling">lǫnd</em> (from <em class="ling">land</em>, see above)
- `á -> ǫ́`, e.g. <em class="recon">sáru</em> > <em class="ling">sǫ́r</em> (from <em class="ling">sár</em>)

[^di]: 2013, [[@haugenNorroeneGrammatikIm2013|Norröne Grammatik im Überblick: Altisländisch und Altnorwegisch]], §17.3

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#state/tidy | #lang/en | #SemBr