View source for Ä

{{Short description|Latin letter A with diaeresis}}
{{more references needed|date=November 2025}}
{{For|the sound ä represents in the IPA|Open central unrounded vowel}}
[[File:Latin letter A with diaeresis.svg|thumb|Latin letter A with diaeresis]]
'''Ä''' (lowercase '''ä''') is a character that represents either a letter from several extended [[Latin alphabet]]s, or the letter '''[[A]]''' with an [[Umlaut (diacritic)|umlaut mark]] or [[diaeresis (diacritic)|diaeresis]]. It is used mainly in Northern European and Central Asian languages. In the International Phonetic Alphabet, it is sometimes used to represent the [[open central unrounded vowel]].

==Usage==
[[File:Stäket vägskylt 2014.jpg|thumb|Sign of Stäket, a [[residential area]] in [[Järfälla Municipality]], [[Sweden]]]]

The letter '''Ä''' occurs in the writing systems of languages around the world, though its use is most prominent in Northern Europe and Central Asia. European languages that use ''ä'' include [[Swedish alphabet|Swedish]],<ref>{{Cite book|title=Svenska Akademiens ordlista: Sjunde upplagan |author=Svenska Akademien |url=https://runeberg.org/saol/7/0321.html |lang=sv |trans-title=Swedish Academy dictionary: Seventh edition |date=1900 |page=321 |access-date=3 November 2025}}</ref> [[German language|German]],<ref>{{cite book |author1=Rats für deutsche Rechtschreibung |title=Amtliches Regelwerk der deutschen Rechtschreibung: Regeln und Wörterverzeichnis |date=2024 |isbn=978-3-948831-65-3 |page=31 |url=https://www.rechtschreibrat.com/DOX/RfdR_Amtliches-Regelwerk_2024.pdf |access-date=3 November 2025 |language=de |quote=Die Umlautbuchstaben ä, ö, ü werden im Folgenden mit den Buchstaben a, o, u |trans-title=Official Rules of German Spelling: Rules and Wordlist |trans-quote=The umlaut letters ä, ö, ü will be represented below by the letters a, o, u}}</ref> [[Luxembourgish language|Luxembourgish]],<ref>{{cite book |title=Arrêté ministériel du 10 octobre 1975 portant réforme du système officiel d'orthographe luxembourgeoise |date=1975 |url=https://www.cpll.lu/pdf/ortho_1975.pdf |access-date=3 November 2025 |language=fr, lb |trans-title=Ministerial decree of 10 October 1975 reforming the official Luxembourgish spelling system}}</ref> [[Limburgish]] (in some [[Orthography|orthographies]]),<ref>{{cite web |title=Limbörgs Toetsebord |url=https://limburgs.org/li/toetsebord/ |website=Limbörgse Academie |access-date=5 November 2025 |language=li |quote=Typ veur väöl: vaol spatie. |trans-title=Limburgish Keyboard |trans-quote=Type väöl by typing: vaol space.}}</ref>  [[North Frisian language|North Frisian]], [[Saterlandic language|Saterlandic]], [[Finnish alphabet|Finnish]],<ref>{{cite web |last1=Korpela |first1=Jukka K. |title=The alphabet |url=https://jkorpela.fi/finnish/The_alphabet.html |website=Handbook of Finnish, 2nd edition |access-date=5 November 2025 |date=19 October 2025}}</ref> [[Estonian alphabet|Estonian]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Abondolo |first1=Daniel |title=The Uralic Languages |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-13508-8 |page=118 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Uralic_Languages/xWDxBwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=estonian%20alphabet&pg=PA118&printsec=frontcover |access-date=5 November 2025 |language=en}}</ref> [[Skolt Sámi]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Feist |first1=Timothy |title=A Grammar of Skolt Saami (PhD Thesis) |date=2011 |location=University of Manchester |page=38 |url=https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/a-grammar-of-skolt-saami/ |access-date=3 November 2025}}</ref> [[Karelian alphabet|Karelian]],<ref name=krl1>{{cite web |title=Kirjaimet |work=Karjalan kielioppi |language=olo |url=http://www.opastajat.net/opastus/grammar/lessons/urokku002.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303212545/http://opastajat.net/opastus/grammar/lessons/urokku002.html |archive-date=2016-03-03 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Emilian–Romagnol|Emilian]],<ref name="Bulgnais">{{cite web |title=L’urtugrafî |url=https://www.bulgnais.com/grafia.html |website=Al sît bulgnaiṡ |access-date=5 November 2025 |language=egl, it |trans-title=The Orthography}}</ref>[[Inari Sámi]] and [[Slovak alphabet|Slovak]]. 

''Ä'' appears in the [[Common Turkic Alphabet]], and some [[Latin-script alphabet|Latin-based alphabets]] in Central Asia, including [[Tatar alphabet#Zamanälif|Tatar]], [[Kazakh language|Kazakh]], [[Gagauz language|Gagauz]], and [[Turkmen alphabet|Turkmen]] use it. The letter is also used in some [[Romani alphabets]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kepeski |first1=Krume |last2=Jusuf |first2=Šaip |title=Romani gramatika (Ромска граматика) |date=1980 |publisher=Naša Kniga |location=Skopje |page=20 |url=https://www.scribd.com/document/411203306/Romani-Gramatika-Romska-Gramatika#page=1 |access-date=3 November 2025 |language=mk, rom}}</ref> and the Austronesian language [[Rotuman language|Rotuman]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Churchward |first1=C. Maxwell |title=Rotuman grammar and dictionary: comprising Rotuman phonetics and grammar and a Rotuman-English dictionary |date=1940 |page=13 |url=http://hdl.handle.net/1885/207687 |access-date=3 November 2025}}</ref>

It generally denotes an unrounded vowel that is front or central in the mouth, and low or mid height. In Finnish, Kazakh, Turkmen and Tatar, this is always [{{IPA link|æ}}]; in Swedish and Estonian, regional variation, as well as the letter's position in a word, allows for either {{IPA|[æ]}} or {{IPAblink|ɛ}}. In German and Slovak ''Ä'' stands for {{IPA|[ɛ]}} (or the archaic {{IPA|[æ]}}).{{cn|date=November 2025}}

In the [[romanization]] of [[Nanjing dialect|Nanjing Mandarin]], ''Ä'' stands for {{IPA|[ɛ]}}.{{cn|date=November 2025}} The [[Lessing-Othmer]] romanization scheme also used ''ä''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lessing |first1=Ferdinand |last2=Othmer |first2=Wilhelm |title=Lehrgang der nordchinesischen Umgangssprache |date=1912 |publisher=Deutsch-Chinesische Druckerei und Verlagsanstalt (W . Schmidt) |url=https://archive.org/details/lehrgangdernord00othmgoog/page/n16/mode/2up |location=Tsingtau |access-date=3 November 2025 |language=de |trans-title=Northern Chinese colloquial language course}}</ref>

===Nordic Counties===
[[Image:Mynamaki bus station sign.jpg|thumb|right|The sign at the bus station of the Finnish town [[Mynämäki]], illustrating an artistic variation of the letter Ä]]
In the [[Nordic countries]], the vowel sound {{IPA|[æ]}} was originally written as "[[Æ]]" when [[Christianisation]] caused the former [[Vikings]] to start using the [[Latin alphabet]] around A.D. 1100. The letter Ä arose in German and later in Swedish from originally writing the E in AE on top of the A, which with time became simplified as two dots, consistent with the [[Sütterlin]] script. In the [[Icelandic orthography|Icelandic]], [[Faroese alphabet|Faroese]], [[Danish alphabet|Danish]] and [[Norwegian alphabet|Norwegian]] alphabets, "[[Æ]]" is still used instead of Ä.

Finnish adopted the Swedish alphabet during the 700 years that Finland was part of Sweden. Although the idea of the [[Germanic umlaut]] does not exist in Finnish, the phoneme {{IPA|/æ/}} does. Estonian gained the letter through extensive exposure to German, with Low German throughout centuries of effective [[Baltic Germans|Baltic German]] rule, and to Swedish, during the 160 years of Estonia as a part of the [[Swedish Empire]] until 1721.

===Emilian===
[[Emilian–Romagnol|Emilian]], spoken in northern Italy, uses ä to represent {{IPA|[æ]}}, occurring in some dialects, e.g. [[Bologna|Bolognese]] {{lang|egl|bän}} {{IPA|[bæŋ]}} "good, well" and {{lang|egl|żänt}} {{IPA|[zæŋt]}} "people".<ref name="Bulgnais"/>

===Common Turkic Alphabet===
[[File:Common Turkic Alphabet as agreed in September 2024 (according to The Astana Times).jpg|thumb|The [[Common Turkic Alphabet]] as adopted in 2024, which allows for the use of either ''Ä'' or ''Ə''.]]

''Ä'' is a letter in the 2024 update of the 34-letter [[Common Turkic Alphabet]], a project that seeks to create a Latin-based alphabet that is expansive enough to be used across all [[Turkic languages]]. ''Ä'' coexists with ''Ə'' in the CTA, both of which can represent the [[near-open front unrounded vowel]] {{IPA|[æ]}}, with different languages picking one or the other.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Abuova |first=Nagima |date=23 September 2024 |title=Turkic States Revive Latin-Based Alphabet to Preserve Linguistic Heritage |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241206030812/https://astanatimes.com/2024/09/turkic-states-revive-latin-based-alphabet-to-preserve-linguistic-heritage/ |archive-date=6 December 2024 |url-status=live |url=https://astanatimes.com/2024/09/turkic-states-revive-latin-based-alphabet-to-preserve-linguistic-heritage/ |access-date=2 November 2025}}</ref>

==== Kazakh ====
{{see also|Kazakh alphabets#Latin script}}
In 2021, [[Kazakhstan]] approved a multi-year transition to a Latin-based alphabet for the [[Kazakh language]], to be completed by 2031. Based on President [[Kassym-Jomart Tokayev]]'s 2021 decree finalizing the proposed alphabet, ''ä'' will represent the IPA sound /{{IPA|æ}}/, replacing the Cyrillic letter [[Ә]].<ref name=Satubaldina2021>{{cite web |last1=Satubaldina |first1=Assel |title=Kazakhstan Presents New Latin Alphabet, Plans Gradual Transition Through 2031 - The Astana Times |url=https://astanatimes.com/2021/02/kazakhstan-presents-new-latin-alphabet-plans-gradual-transition-through-2031/ |website=Astana Times |access-date=2 November 2025 |language=en |date=1 February 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=«Қазақ тілі әліпбиін кириллицадан латын графикасына көшірудің кейбір мәселелері туралы» Қазақстан Республикасы Президенті Жарлығының жобасы |url=https://legalacts.egov.kz/npa/view?id=8243312 |website=Открытые НПА |access-date=2 November 2025 |language=kk |date=6 May 2021 |trans-title=Draft Decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On some issues of translation of the alphabet of the Kazakh language from the Cyrillic alphabet to the Latin script"}}</ref>

==== Tatar ====
The Turkic [[Tatar language]] is written officially in the Cyrillic script, but a Latin based alphabet is in limited use.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Extended Cyrillic: Tatar |url=https://type.today/en/journal/tatar}}</ref> 

The Tatar Cyrillic letter ә [æ] has been usually transliterated as ä, but in 2024, the [[Common Turkic alphabet|Common Turkic Alphabet]] replaced it with [[ə]], which is also used in [[Azerbaijani language|Azeri]] Latin script. Tatar activists writing in the Latin script on social media have preferred to use this instead of ä as well; the main argument being that ä is aesthetically less pleasing when Tatar already owns a lot of umlauts (күбәләкләр, kübäläklär, ''kübələklər''; 'butterflies').<ref>{{Cite web |title=Neo-alif |url=https://bababashqort.notion.site/6f0934d818ba48c6946ee9ae146e5506?v=745906f4af76491baa759add4d30d093}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ahmetcan |first=Aygul |title=Learn Tatar |url=https://www.learntatar.com/home}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Tatar grammar – Tatar əlifbası |url=https://www.instagram.com/p/DBwfUR2uULi/?igsh=MTByeTByOXl2cGFlaQ== |website=Instagram}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Tatar-Finnish Dictionary |url=https://finno-ugric-dictionaries.utu.fi/tatfin/}}</ref> 

In Finland, while ä is found in Finnish, [[Finnish Tatars|the Tatar community]] has traditionally tried to use only [[Turkish alphabet|letters found in Turkish]], and thus, have replaced it with e. This has left both the [e] and [ɯ] (ı) sounds as ı (keçkenä / keçkenə, ''kıçkıne''; 'small'{{Efn|This mixes Tatar front and back vowels; if using e as [æ], a more correct spelling would be kiçkine, which then leaves letter i as the e-sound.}}). Nowadays however the spelling has had more influence from Tatarstan.<ref>Bedretdin, Kadriye (editor): ''Tugan Tel – Kirjoituksia Suomen tataareista''. Helsinki: Suomen Itämainen Seura, 2011. {{ISBN|978-951-9380-78-0}} (pp. 299–300)</ref><ref name=":0" />

===Cyrillic===
{{Main|A with diaeresis (Cyrillic)}}
Ӓ is used in some alphabets invented in the 19th century which are based on the [[Cyrillic script]]. These include [[Mari language|Mari]], [[Altay language|Altay]]{{Citation needed|date=June 2008}} and the [[Tatars#Volga Tatars|Keräşen]] [[Tatar alphabet]].

=== Umlaut-A ===
[[Image:A diaeresis - DGS.svg|thumb|100px|'''Ä''' in [[German Sign Language]]]]
A similar glyph, '''A''' with [[Umlaut (diacritic)|umlaut]], appears in the [[German alphabet]]. It represents the umlauted form of ''a'' {{IPA|de|aː|}} ({{IPA|de|a|}} when short), resulting in {{IPA|de|ɛː|}} (or {{IPA|de|eː|}} for many speakers) in the case of the long {{IPA|de|aː|}} and {{IPA|de|ɛ|}} in the case of the short {{IPA|de|a|}}. In German, it is called {{lang|de|Ä}} (pronounced {{IPA|de|ɛː|}}) or {{lang|de|Umlaut-Ä}}{{cn|date=August 2024}}. Referring to the glyph as {{lang|de|A-Umlaut}} is an uncommon practice, and would be ambiguous, as that term also refers to [[Germanic a-mutation]]. The digraph {{angbr|äu}} is used for the fronting diphthong {{IPA|de|ɔʏ|}} (otherwise spelled with {{angbr|eu}}) when it acts as the umlauted form of the backing diphthong {{IPA|de|aʊ|}} (spelled {{angbr|au}}); compare ''Baum'' {{IPA|de|ˈbaʊm|}} 'tree' with ''Bäume'' {{IPA|de|ˈbɔʏmə|}} 'trees'. In German dictionaries, the letter is [[collation|collated]] together with ''A'', while in German phonebooks the letter is collated as ''AE''. The letter also occurs in some languages which have adopted German names or spellings, but is not a part of these languages' alphabets. It has recently been introduced in revivalist [[Ulster Scots dialects|Ulster-Scots]] writing.

The letter was originally an A with a lowercase e on top, which was later stylized to two dots.

In other languages that do not have the letter as part of the regular alphabet or in limited [[character set]]s such as [[ASCII|US-ASCII]], Ä is frequently replaced with the two-letter combination "Ae".

=== Phonetic alphabets ===
*In the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]], ä represents an [[open central unrounded vowel]]. The letter does not appear on the IPA chart, as the need to distinguish the open '''central''' vowel from an open front/back vowel is rare. It is instead a combination of IPA symbols: the open front unrounded vowel {{IPA|[a]}}, modified by the [[Relative articulation#Centralized vowels|centralization]] diacritic {{IPA|◌̈}}.<ref>{{cite web |title=The International Phonetic Alphabet (revised to 2015) |url=https://www.internationalphoneticassociation.org/sites/default/files/IPA_Kiel_2015.pdf |website=The International Phonetic Association |access-date=3 November 2025}}</ref><ref name="thomason">{{cite web |url=http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/005287.html |title=Why I Don't Love the International Phonetic Alphabet |author=Sally Thomason |date=2 January 2008 |work=Language Log |access-date=3 January 2008 |archive-date=5 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805020951/http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/005287.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
*in the [[Rheinische Dokumenta]], a phonetic alphabet for many [[West Central German]], [[Low Rhenish]], and a few related languages, "ä" represents the sound {{IPAblink|ɛ}}.

=== Typography ===
[[Image:VolapukAOU.svg|thumb|[[Johann Martin Schleyer]] proposed alternate forms for Ä and ä ([[Ꞛ]] and [[ꞛ]], respectively) in [[Volapük]] but they were rarely used.]]
Historically A-diaeresis was written as an ''A'' with two dots above the letter. A-umlaut was written as an ''A'' with a small ''e'' written above (Aͤ aͤ): this minute ''e'' degenerated to two vertical bars in [[medieval]] [[handwriting]]
(A̎ a̎). In most later handwritings these bars in turn nearly became dots.

[[Æ]], a highly similar ligature evolving from the same origin as ''Ä'', evolved in the [[Icelandic orthography|Icelandic]], [[Danish alphabet|Danish]] and [[Norwegian alphabet|Norwegian]] [[alphabet]]s. The Æ ligature was also common in [[Old English language|Old English]], but had largely disappeared in [[Middle English]].

In modern [[typography]] there was insufficient space on [[typewriter]]s and later [[computer keyboard]]s to allow for both A-diaeresis (also representing ''Ä'') and A-umlaut. Since they looked near-identical the two glyphs were combined, which was also done in computer [[character encoding]]s such as [[ISO 8859-1]]. As a result, there was no way to differentiate between the different characters. [[Unicode]] theoretically provides a solution by using the [[combining grapheme joiner]] (CGJ; U+034F), but recommends it only for highly specialized applications.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://unicode.org/faq/char_combmark.html#18 |publisher=[[Unicode]] |work=FAQ - Characters and Combining Marks |title=Unicode doesn't seem to distinguish between tréma and umlaut, but I need to distinguish. What shall I do? |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250613012407/https://www.unicode.org/faq/char_combmark.html#18 |archive-date=13 Jun 2025 |language=en |url-status=live |access-date=2025-07-01}}</ref>

Ä is also used to substitute Ə (the letter [[Ə|schwa]]) in situations where that glyph is unavailable, as used in the [[Tatar language|Tatar]] and [[Azeri language]]s. [[Turkmen language|Turkmen]] started to use Ä officially instead of the schwa from 1993 onwards.

===Computer encoding===

* {{unichar| 00C4 }}
* {{unichar| 00E4 }}

== Notes ==
{{noteslist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Wiktionary|ä}}
* [http://www.istro-romanian.net/alphabet.html The IstroRomanians in Croatia: Alphabet]

{{Latin script}}
{{Swedish language}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:A}}
[[Category:Latin letters with diacritics]]
[[Category:Vowel letters]]