magánhangzóharmónián

Magánhangzóharmónia, often translated as vowel harmony, is a phonological phenomenon found in some languages where vowels within a word are restricted to a particular set of features. This means that all vowels in a word, with the exception of some exceptions like neutral vowels, must share certain characteristics. These characteristics are typically related to the place of articulation (front vs. back) and rounding (rounded vs. unrounded) of the tongue.

The most common types of vowel harmony involve frontness and backness. In a word exhibiting backness harmony, all vowels are either front vowels (like 'e' and 'ö' in Hungarian) or back vowels (like 'a' and 'o' in Hungarian). Similarly, in a word exhibiting roundedness harmony, all vowels are either rounded (like 'u' and 'ü' in Hungarian) or unrounded (like 'a' and 'e' in Hungarian). Many languages, like Hungarian and Finnish, exhibit both front/back and rounded/unrounded harmony simultaneously, meaning vowels must agree in both features.

The primary function of vowel harmony is to create a more cohesive and sonically pleasing sound within words. It often influences the form of grammatical suffixes, which adapt their vowel to match the vowels of the root word. For example, in Hungarian, the plural suffix can be "-ok" or "-ek" depending on whether the root word contains back or front vowels. While vowel harmony is a prominent feature in Uralic languages like Hungarian and Finnish, it also appears in Turkic languages, Korean, and some indigenous languages of the Americas, though its specific rules and manifestations can vary considerably between language families.