What exactly is an umlaut?

Sure, an umlaut is those two dots over a letter. But what exactly is it? What does it mean, and what started it?

My old video about the umlaut:

Chapters:
00:00 When an umlaut isn't an umlaut
01:46 The vowel chart
02:58 Writing the sounds
04:02 Umlautable vowels
05:08 Performing the umlaut
05:35 How it all started

Music:
"Style Funk" and "Hot Swing"
Creative Commons Attribution licence

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[NeverLoveNiila]

While this is much too complex for most of my students who learn German, it is so informative for me as a teacher and "push your tongue forward" is an excellent explanation for students who struggle with the Umlaut (which is most of them) Thanks a lot!

[mjinhamburg]

Fascinating!! As a german speaker, 8 thought I knew what an umlaut is, but i have learnt a lot. Thank you !

[GregorStrassburger]

To people struggling to pronounce the German ü, rather than starting with the letter "u", I learned it's easier to start that from "i" (at least the German way of pronouncing it: eeh (or iː in IPA)) then slowly "point" your lips, and listen to how the sound changes to ü. So, the term "i-mutation" seems to come in handy.

[Vargskinn]

As a German teacher, I like your simplicity, while keeping it reasonably detailed. Great job!

[poissonpuerile]

An excellent explanation! Just two quibbles: (1) It's not the *jaw* that raises and lowers when vowel height changes, it's the *tongue* (the jaw may or may not lower concomitantly with very open vowels, but that's always optional). (2) That third German diphthong is actually /ɔʏ̯/, with a rounded second component. What you present for this diphthong is actually how English speakers inevitably pronounce it :-)

[jlljlj]

Also, ö is astonished (Ö even more) and Ü is grinning happily.

[arthur_p_dent]

Small correction, the final "n" of "Citroën" isn't pronounced nasally. "ën" is basically pronounced like the name "Anne" in English.

(EDIT: Of course I meant to say that the vowel before the n aren't nasal.The "n" is pronounced and of course it continues to be a nasal consinant)

[Ehrentraud]

Excellent video, I learned a lot! I think it was this type of content that made me watch many of your videos many years ago.

[torstenpflug]

Danke für diese kleine, äußerst übersichtliche, Lehrstunde! Je öfter ich bei Dir reinschaue, desto mehr Spaß macht es mir.

[rushelm]

What a naturally great communicator and effective teacher. Excellent! Vielen Dank!

[WeisserPaladin]

Finally another linguistic video - the original reason I did subscribe to you. Thank you, you're awesome! :)

[TheBastius]

In Spanish, there is an ü, too. It has the same function as the trema above the e. Famous example is the word "vergüenza" (it means "shame"). Without it, it would be pronounced more or less like the German prefix "ge-".

[TheBastius]

And if I am not mistaken, the dots on top of a, o, and u come from the handwriting Kurrent where the e is written like an n. The n is then written on top of a, o, and u and reduced to two small, vertical lines and later simplified with mere dots. That's why the 'long' versions of ä, ö, and ü are written ae, oe, and ue.

[HereIsSuperman]

Äußerst interessant... die Überlegungen und Fakten über die Umlaute in verschiedenen, germanischen Sprachen sind eine schöne Sache. Danke 🤝

[reda.]

I'm a french person here and you pronounced citroën as /sitʁoɛ̃/ where the en is nasalised, but in reality it's /sitʁoɛn/ as it isn't nasalised

[captainkacke]

I remember studying all of this when I went to uni to study German Linguistics. Dropped out after two semesters and went onto Japanology instead, but this was kind of a throwback to that time🙃

[brucequinn]

"Lauftschrift Erklaerer" ! Love it.

[Urspo]

this is an excellent one. I love the grammar entries to help explain and pronounce German.

[Lugmillord]

That shift from back to front is really interesting.

[sarah]

Very good video and great explanation!