German letters with dots on top are of great importance for the whole language. A large number of words have them in their composition, and therefore you need to know how and where to use them.
What is an umlaut
Translated from German, the word "umlaut" means "permutation". In principle, this definition can convey the meaning of the term. Umlaut is a sign indicating a phonetic change in articulation, as well as in the timbre of vowels. These include the letters “a”, “o”, and “u”. In writing, they look like this: ä, ö, ü. If we translate German letters with dots on top in transcription, we get the following combinations: ä = ae; ö = oe; ü = ue. Depending on which word a particular letter is used in, the pronunciation will also differ. However, not much. Mostly “ä” is pronounced close to “e”, “ö” - like “ё”, and “ü” - like “yu”.
Typing on the keyboard
Being engaged in the study of the German language and corresponding with someone from the native inhabitants of Germany, there is a need to type the notorious umlauts on the keyboard. And the letter “escet” (looks like the usual “beta” - ß) as well. Where can I find German letters with dots on top of the keyboard? This question worries many, but here it is necessary not only to change the settings and layout parameters. You will also need to purchase an appropriate keyboard - for convenience. If this is not possible, then you can simply replace the letters with the combinations that were mentioned earlier - ue, ae, oe. And "escet" usually means the same as double "s". Such a spelling will not be considered a mistake, any German will be able to understand such a word (for example, football: “Fußball” = “Fussball”).
Set Tricks
However, if such a spelling “cuts the eyes” of a person, or he simply loves literacy and does not want to appear in front of the Germans as a dunno, then there is a little secret that can be used when typing a message or text. You can simply enter in the search bar of any browser a query called “German alphabet” and click on search. After that, what you need will appear to your eyes. That is, the alphabet. You need to open it and copy the German letters with dots on top. In order not to do this every time, you can save them either in a separate file or as a bookmark. But it is better, of course, to install the German layout. This is not so difficult to do, you just need to go to the control panel through the “Start”, then find the “language and regional standards” item and add the required language to the settings through the installed services. Usually, on the Russian keyboard, the letter “Ä” stands in place of “E”, “Ö” - in the same place as “Ж”, “Ü” - “X”, and “beta” (escet) is transferred to the “dash” key. Over time, you can get used to this layout, especially if you often use umlauts.
Meaning
And, finally, about the role played by German letters with dots on top. Uppercase and lowercase umlauts are very important. The meaning of the word depends on whether a letter with or without a dot is placed in the word. A parallel can be drawn between German umlauts and Russian stress. So, for example, only one intonation turns us into an antique castle. And in German, two dots can turn “already” into “beautiful.” We are talking about the word “sch(o/ö)n”. “Schon” is translated as “already” (“already working” - “arbeite schon”), and “schön” - as “beautiful” (“Dubist sehr schön” - “you are very beautiful”). It is also important not only to write such words correctly, but also to pronounce them. For better assimilation of such specific material, it is recommended to listen to audio recordings if it is not possible to go to a German teacher. Of course, you can also read words from transcriptions, but often students begin to pronounce letters with umlauts too clearly. That is, these are pronounced “yo”, “yu” and a characteristic “e”. It should not be so, such sounds are pronounced delicately and softly. Today there are a huge number of video and audio lessons. After several training sessions on pronunciation, the result will already be heard.
IN German alphabet exists 26 latin letters, three characters "a-umlaut", "o-umlaut", "u-umlaut", which are indicated using a diacritical mark in the form of two dots above the letter - spelling: ä, ö, ü, and ligature - ß.
Umlaut says that the sound, supplemented by two dots above the letter, is phonetically different from the sound that is indicated by this very letter without an umlaut, and is read, respectively, in a different way:
ä - reads like "e",
ö - similar to the Russian "ё", pronounced together with "o",
ü - like "yu" in a word, for example, "Lucy".
The sign ß, called escet, stands for a long "s". At the same time, he also indicates that the previous vowel has an elongated sound, and the combination of two letters s ("ss") in a row shortens the sound of the vowel in front of them.
Kit German charactersä, ö, ü, and ß on non-German keyboards
Due to Esset and letters with umlauts have a sound different from the double "s" and letters without dots above them, the umlaut cannot be omitted in order to prevent ambiguity.
When typing German text on the keyboard if the German keyboard layout is not installed, the question arises of the designation of special German characters. There are several ways to fix this problem.
We print in German or Common ways to replace German characters
A sign with an umlaut can be replaced when writing with the following letter combination: a letter without an umlaut + the letter "e":
Ä - ae,
Ö - oe,
Ü-ue.
In the case of characters with an umlaut, there are designations for lowercase and uppercase letters.
Replacement "escet"
You can use ss instead of ß.
Considering that the ß ligature has only a lowercase style, then, if necessary, write a word with ß capital letters you can use the same method - replace the escet with the letter combination SS. With such a replacement of escet, you need to be careful, since there are words in which replacing the ligature ß with a double s can lead to the formation of three consecutive consonants s, which is not very correct, although it is currently acceptable.
In such cases
- better to replace ß with sz (Maszstab)
- or separate the word with a hyphen between the double ss, which replaces the ß sign, and the letter s following in the word (Mass-stab).
Using German characters in "Microsoft Word"
- Find in the "Microsoft Word" menu in the "Insert" tab, select the "Symbols" section - the corresponding window will open in which you need to find the corresponding symbol and then click the "Insert" button.
- You can use the keyboard shortcut listed at the bottom of this window. For example, the following keyboard shortcuts correspond to certain German characters:
Ctrl+Shift+W, U - Ü,
Ctrl+Shift+W, A - Ä,
Ctrl+Shift+W, O - Ö,
ctrl+? S-ß.
Copy Method
The easiest way is to find the already typed German text, which is in the computer's memory or on the Internet, and copy all the necessary for printing characters ä, ö, ü, ß to the buffer. Subsequently, insert these characters as needed, referring to the clipboard.
This method, like the previous one, is good if you type German texts rarely, from time to time. If you need to constantly use the German layout, then the above methods are not very convenient. So, it is necessary to write the necessary characters to the clipboard every time after turning on "Microsoft Word", since after turning off the computer, the clipboard is reset to zero, the information in the buffer is not saved.
Setting the German keyboard layout
If you still have to frequently type texts on German, for example, to correspond with partners from Germany, Austria, etc. or communicate in in social networks with German-speaking interlocutors, then the best way still is to install the German keyboard layout.
To install such a layout, you can use the Start menu, following the algorithm:
Start - Settings - Control Panel - Regional and Language Options - Languages - Installed Services - Add - German (Germany).
At the same time, it is also desirable to remember where the signs with umlauts and escet are located on the keyboard. So, in the German layout, the ß ligature is located to the right of zero on the alphanumeric block, and the signs ä, ö, ü are also located on the right side of the keyboard on the same keys with the Russian letters e, zh, x, respectively.
In addition, Y is used quite rarely in German, so this letter on the keyboard is in a different place compared to the standard Latin layout. In the German keyboard layout, the positions of the letters Z and Y are reversed.
Writing characters ä, ö, ü, ß through the English layout
It is possible to set distinctive German characters using the English layout (US - International). In this case, the signs ä, ö, ü, and ß correspond to combinations of the Alt key with the letters q, p, y, s, respectively, that is
Ä - Alt + q,
Ö - Alt + p,
Ü - Alt + y,
ß - Alt + s.
In any case, the choice of how to type special German characters is up to the user. :))
Also, the methods are also described in this video on my LifeIstGut channel on Youtube!))
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Unlike ablaut, whose origin is Indo-European (its traces are systematically present in all Indo-European languages), umlaut is an exclusively German phenomenon. Although we can recall that similar assimilation occurred in other Indo-European languages. For example, in Russian dialects there is a similar phenomenon, when the sound is narrowed due to the fact that it stands, but in Russian it has more to do with the softness and hardness of the consonants.
Term umlaut in german, like many other things, was created by the linguist Grimm. It can be translated as vocalization or mutation. And traditionally it is used in relation to the Germanic languages. For others, different terms are used.
Surprisingly, but in German, umlaut is found approximately in the same place as in Old English. That is, the same positions:
· plural
2nd and 3rd person strong verbs in present tense
when word formation with various suffixes
But, in German, unlike, as it seems, from all other Germanic languages, the umlaut acquired a grammatical function and became productive. That is, he had grammaticalization. This means that there are words where the umlaut is not justified by phonetics! So, for example, the word "Stab", meaning staff, has the plural "Stäbe" by analogy with words like "Gast" - "Gäste", where the umlaut is quite natural.
stress
Indo-European stress, as established by comparative historical grammar, was not dynamic (based on expiration) as in Germanic languages or as in Russian, but musical (i.e. related to pitch) as in ancient Greek or in modern Lithuanian and Serbian languages.
The German stress system is a historical continuation and development of the common Indo-European system. So, if in Indo-European stress could fall on any syllable of a word, then in German only the first syllable of a word (or word form) stood out as stressed. In this case, the first stressed syllable, as a rule, coincided with the root morpheme. Prefixes, suffixes and endings deprived of semantic significance, losing stress, were easily subjected to further phonetic reduction. The fixing of stress, according to Werner's law, took place around 500 BC. e.
In dvn. in most cases, the stress fell on the first syllable: firstly, in all words without prefixes, and secondly, in a significant number of words with prefixes, mainly names and denominative verbs. For example, "fater, "redinon," lango, "unde," druhtin; "antuurti "Antwort", "forasagon "vorsagen", "urlub "Erlaubnis".
The stress was not on the first syllable in dvn. in a much smaller number of words than on the first. These were in the main verbs (and verbal names) with prefixes ga-, gi-, ge-; za-, zi-, ze-; ant-, ent-, int-; ar-, ir-, er-; far-, fur-, fir-, fer-; bi-, be-. In these cases, the stress was on the syllable after the prefix: gilouben, irteilen "urteilen", etc.
As for derivational suffixes, the so-called. "heavy" suffixes, then some of them carried a secondary stress: arbeitsamo, keloublich. It is precisely because of their stress that such suffixes retain their phonetic image to a greater extent: arbeitsam, glaublich.
During the Old High German period, the stressed syllable (in most cases this is the root) represents a strong position for vowels, i.e. all vowel phonemes, both monophthongs and diphthongs, occur under stress. Proof of this are the oldest monuments, where both short vowels and long vowels, as well as the diphthong iu, can be present in an unstressed syllable. However, gradually the unstressed syllable becomes a weak position. This process is usually called vowel reduction, i.e. there is a purely mechanical, articulatory "weakening" of unstressed vowels (pre-stressed or post-stressed), while the grammatical role played by final syllables is important (for example, they are inflectional morphemes). The end of a word is gradually becoming the scene of not only phonetic, but also morphological factors, which include:
Falling off at the end of the word short -a, -e, -i;
The fate of final -n and -s in the Germanic languages;
Falling off of terminal teeth in polysyllabic formations (t, d) - farant > faran;
Reduction of final long vowels;
Replacing the final m with n in shock position, mainly in flexion:
Ahd. tagum (D.P1.) - mhd. Tagen
Shortening of three-syllable words:
hanono > hanon > hane
gebono > gebon > geben.
In St. the reduction of vowels in an unstressed position continues, which leads to a significant phonetic restructuring of the word, to a wide spread of contraction, for example,
sprichet > spricht,
words > worn,
During this period, the unstressed median syllable is further dropped out and the three-syllable structure is transformed into a two-syllable one: krebazo > krebz, mennisko ^ men(ne)sche, and the process of the disappearance of the unstressed syllable in the two-syllable structure and thereby its transformation into a monosyllabic one is observed: weralt > werlt > welt; zwelif > zwelf.
In nvn. whole word-building categories arise with suffixes of foreign origin -ant, -ist, -at, ismus, -ie, -ei, -ieren, etc., having an accent at the end or in the middle of a word:
Molkerei, Philosophic, Sozialist, Sozialismus, demonstrieren, etc.
Word stress acquires a phonological differentiating function in a number of words:
"Passiv-pas" siv, "Aktiv - ak" tiv.
Late borrowings usually retain the stress characteristic of the language from which the given word is directly borrowed:
Ele "fant, Peri" ode, The "ater, Reli" gion, etc.
By type of borrowing, a small number of primordially German words transfers stress to a final or median syllable: cf. Forelle (svn. forhele), which allows us to talk about the partial destruction of the framework of accent relations characteristic of the German phonetic system.
Stress and phoneme system
The most important common feature of the Germanic languages is dynamic (power) stress on the first (root) syllable. In non-prefixed verbs and names, the root and first syllables are the same. In verbs and names with prefixes, the place of stress is not the same: in prefixed nouns and adjectives, the stress falls on the first syllable, i.e. prefix, and in prefixed verbs - on the root syllable: cf. goth."andahafts "answer" and and"hafjan "answer". The same prefix, depending on the place of stress in the word, could have a different character, different sound variants: more complete - in nominal formations, to some extent reduced - in verbs. The reason for such a difference in stress, apparently, is the time difference in the appearance of these formations. The fixation of a strong dynamic stress on the first syllable had a significant impact on the development of the structure of the Germanic languages and strengthened the trends that were already in place during the period of the Germanic linguistic community. It singled out the main semantic relation syllable and probably contributed to the reduction of unstressed syllables; as a result of the laws of the end of the word, long vowels were reduced, and short ones were weakened and reduced or completely disappeared. The first stage of reduction has already passed, apparently, in the common Germanic language, in the future, this trend acted with different strength in different German languages.
, Celtic, as well as Uralic and Altaic languages \u200b\u200b(for example, Kazakh, Uighur), which consists in changing the articulation and timbre of vowels: partial or complete assimilation of the previous vowel to the next, usually the root vowel vowel ending (suffix or inflection).
Umlaut in Germanic languages
Umlaut in Old English
[u] → [y] (*fuljan → fyllan "fill") → (*ontunjan → ontynan "to open"; cf. tun "fence") [o] → [œ] → [e] (*dohtri → dœhter → dehter "daughter") → [œ:] → (*foti → fœt → fēt "legs"; compare: fōt "leg") [a] → [e] (*taljan → tellan "tell"; cf. talu "story") → [æ:] (*hāljan → hǣlan "heal"; hal "healthy")Umlaut in Old High German
- Mann-Männer ([a]-[ɛ])
- Haus - Häuser ( - , similar to pronunciation eu How )
- Hof - Höfe ([o] - [œ])
- Buch - Bücher ([u] - [y])
Pronunciation of umlauts
- ä - how uh
- ö - the position of the tongue as in uh, and lips - as with O
- ü - the position of the tongue as in And, and lips - as with at
Turkic umlaut
The umlaut is most consistently manifested in Uyghur (both by the sound -i-, which is phonologically neutral in Uyghur, and by the lips): bas"head" - besi"his/her/their head", tes-"pierce" - tosuk"hole". In the Yakut language, which consistently implements vowel harmony, such an umlaut actually borders on ablaut: khatyn//hotun"woman". The Tatar-Bashkir alternation also borders on ablaut un "10" - sixən//hihən "80", tuksan//tuҡhan"90" because the synchronous alternation of narrow and wide timbre is inexplicable.
Reverse synharmonism extends to service elements preceding the main word, for example: bu kün > bugun"Today", bu jIl > bIjIl"this year", Turkish o bir > öbür"other" (bilateral vowel harmonism, regressive in series, progressive in roundness).
Romance umlaut
Romance languages can distinguish between two, less often and three timbre characteristics, depending on the openness/closedness of the subsequent vowel.
Palatal alternation (I-umlaut) explains some of the alternations in Portuguese:
fiz < */fetsi/ «я сделал», но fez < */fetse/ «он сделал»).The umlaut still has a place in some modern Romance languages, such as Central Venetian, which retained the final -i.
