More than you might think, in languages that use them.įor example, in German, it’s the difference between mother ( Mutter) and mothers ( Mütter), and between already (schon) and beautiful (schön). How much of a difference can two little dots make, anyway? So, what do they sound like? If the words “vowel fronting” don’t mean anything to you, this handy YouTube video should clear up the confusion: German orthography includes ä, ö, ü as “special characters.” They aren’t considered part of the alphabet in their own right.
Over time, the “e” evolved into 2 bars, and then finally into two dots. In medieval times, scribes indicated umlauted vowels by placing a small letter “e” directly above them. In German, the umlaut punctuation mark is used to indicate this sound shift. And since people are inherently lazy, these changes are often motivated by a desire to reduce the amount of effort needed to create a given sound. In linguistics, an umlaut is “a sound change in which a vowel is pronounced more like a following vowel or semivowel.” Languages change over time. Here’s a brief history to explain what they are, why they exist and what they mean. Have you ever wondered why some letters in languages like German have those funny dots above them? Do they have a purpose? And if so, what is it?įear not, we’re here to help! Those little dots are called umlauts.
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