vokaalimerkkiä

Vokaalimerkkiä is a term used in some linguistic contexts to refer to a diacritical mark specifically placed above or below a vowel to indicate a change in its pronunciation or meaning. These marks are not part of the base vowel letter itself but are added to modify its sound. Examples of vokaalimerkkiä can be found in many languages, though the specific marks and their functions vary widely.

In Finnish, for instance, the umlaut (kaksi pistettä) over vowels like 'a', 'o', and 'u' creates distinct sounds, such as in 'ä', 'ö', and 'ü'. These are not separate letters but modified vowels. Similarly, in Swedish, the letters 'å', 'ä', and 'ö' are considered distinct vowels, but their origin and function can be seen as stemming from modifications of base vowels, sometimes conceptually linked to the idea of vokaalimerkkiä.

Across different language families, vokaalimerkkiä can denote changes in vowel height, backness, nasality, or tone. For example, the acute accent (´) in languages like Spanish or Portuguese can indicate stress, which affects vowel pronunciation. The grave accent (`) might mark a different vowel quality or a different stress pattern. Other diacritics like the circumflex (^) or the tilde (~) also serve to alter vowel sounds in various languages, contributing to their phonological systems. The concept of vokaalimerkkiä highlights the way writing systems use additional marks to capture the full range of spoken vowel sounds.