ablautaltered

Ablautaltered is a linguistic term used to describe a word or stem that exhibits ablaut, a systematic internal vowel change across related forms. In practice, a word described as ablautaltered typically belongs to a pattern where the stem vowel shifts in different inflectional forms rather than being fixed by a suffix. The concept is most closely associated with the strong verb systems of Germanic languages, where present, past tense, and past participle forms show varying vowels.

In historical and comparative linguistics, ablautaltered forms are seen as evidence of inherited vowel alternations that go back to Proto-Indo-European root structures. Classic English examples include sing-sang-sung, ring-rang-rung, and drive-drove-driven, where the core consonants remain but the vowel of the stem changes across related forms. Such alternations contrast with regular (weak) verbs that form tenses primarily through affixes, and with umlaut or suppletion, which involve different phonological processes.

The term is mainly used in linguistic description and etymology. While not every internal vowel change qualifies as ablaut, ablautaltered is used to indicate that a word participates in a separable, productive pattern of stem-vowel alternation rather than relying solely on affixal or irregular morphology. Some modern grammars prefer broader or slightly different terminology (such as ablaut or ablaut-alternation), but ablautaltered remains a concise way to flag this specific historical-phonological phenomenon.