View source for Vowel harmony

{{Short description|Sound change in vowels}}
{{See also|Germanic umlaut|I-mutation|Metaphony}}
{{For|the poetic device|Assonance}}
{{distinguish|Vocal harmony}}
{{Multiple issues|{{more footnotes needed|date=April 2023}}
{{Cleanup lang|date=November 2020}}}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Sound change}}

In [[phonology]], '''vowel harmony''' is a [[phonological process]] in which vowels [[Assimilation (phonology)|assimilate]] ("harmonize") to share certain [[distinctive feature]]s. Vowel harmony is often confined to the domain of a [[phonological word]], but may extend across word boundaries in certain languages.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Downing |first=Laura J. |last2=Krämer |first2=Martin |date=2024 |title=20. Phrasal Vowel Harmony |url=https://academic.oup.com/crawlprevention/governor?content=%2fedited-volume%2f58804%2fchapter-abstract%2f489195264%3fredirectedFrom%3dfulltext |access-date=2025-07-29 |website=academic.oup.com |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198826804.013.20}}</ref> 

Generally, one vowel will trigger a shift in other vowels within the domain, such that the affected vowels match the relevant feature of the trigger vowel. Intervening segments are common between affected vowels, meaning that the vowels do not need to be next to each other for this change to apply, classifying this as a "long-distance" type of assimilation. Common phonological features that define the natural classes of vowels involved in vowel harmony include [[vowel backness]], [[vowel height]], [[nasalization]], [[roundedness]], and [[advanced and retracted tongue root]].

Certain authors and articles use the term ''vowel harmony'' to refer to ''progressive'' (beginning-to-end) vowel assimilation, and use ''umlaut'' to refer to ''regressive'' assimilation. The term ''umlaut'' is also used in a different sense to refer to a type of [[vowel gradation]], as well as the [[Umlaut (diacritic)|diacritic]] that often marks such changes. ''[[Metaphony]]'' is often used synonymously with vowel harmony, but is typically used to describe historical [[Sound change|sound changes]]. This article uses the term "vowel harmony" to refer to both ''progressive'' and ''regressive'' assimilatory processes.

Vowel harmony is found in many [[Agglutination|agglutinative]] languages. The given domain of vowel harmony taking effect often spans across morpheme boundaries, and [[suffix]]es and [[prefix]]es will usually follow vowel harmony rules. Vowel harmony is also considered an [[areal feature]] in some parts of the world, especially [[North Asia|Northern]] and [[Central Asia]] among the [[Turkic languages|Turkic]], [[Mongolic languages|Mongolic]] and [[Tungusic languages|Tungusic language families]], as well as other languages in contact with languages from the aforementioned families.

=="Long-distance"==
Vowel harmony processes are "long-distance" in the sense that the assimilation involves sounds that are separated by intervening [[segment (linguistics)|segment]]s (usually consonant segments). In other words, ''harmony'' refers to the assimilation of sounds that are ''not'' adjacent to each other. For example, a vowel at the beginning of a word can trigger assimilation in a vowel at the end of a word. The assimilation occurs across the entire word in many languages. This is represented schematically in the following diagram:

:{| cellspacing="5" style="font-size: 110%;"
! <span style="line-height: 1.2em;">before<br />assimilation</span>
| &nbsp;
! <span style="line-height: 1.2em;">after<br />assimilation</span>
|
|-
| <span style="color:#800000">'''V<sub>a</sub>'''</span>C<span style="color:#008000">''V<sub>b</sub>''</span>C<span style="color:#008000">''V<sub>b</sub>''</span>C
| '''→'''
| <span style="color:#800000">'''V<sub>a</sub>'''</span>C<span style="color:#800000">''V<sub>a</sub>''</span>C<span style="color:#800000">''V<sub>a</sub>''</span>C
| &nbsp;&nbsp;<small>(<span style="color:#800000">V<sub>a</sub></span> = type-a vowel, <span style="color:#008000">V<sub>b</sub></span> = type-b vowel, C = consonant)</small>
|}

In the diagram above, the <span style="color:#800000">V<sub>a</sub></span> (type-a vowel) causes the following <span style="color:#008000">V<sub>b</sub></span> (type-b vowel) to assimilate and become the same type of vowel (and thus they become, metaphorically, "in harmony").

The vowel that causes the vowel assimilation is frequently termed the ''trigger'' while the vowels that assimilate (or ''harmonize'') are termed ''targets''. When the vowel triggers lie within the [[root (linguistics)|root]] or [[word stem|stem]] of a word and the [[affix]]es contain the targets, this is called ''stem-controlled'' vowel harmony (the opposite situation is called ''dominant'').<ref name="van der Hulst1995">van der Hulst, H., & van de Weijer, J. (1995). Vowel harmony. In J. A. Goldsmith (Ed.),
''The handbook of phonological theory'' (pp. 495–534). Oxford: Blackwell.</ref> This is fairly common among languages with vowel harmony{{Citation needed|date=June 2009}} and may be seen in the [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]] [[dative case|dative]] suffix:

:{| cellspacing="5"
! Root
! Dative
! Gloss
|-
| {{lang|hu|város}}
| {{lang|hu|város'''-nak'''}}
| 'city'
|-
| {{lang|hu|öröm}}
| {{lang|hu|öröm'''-nek'''}}
| 'joy'
|}

The dative suffix has two different forms {{lang|hu|-nak/-nek}}. The {{lang|hu|-nak}} form appears after the root with back vowels ({{lang|hu|o}} and {{lang|hu|a}} are back vowels). The {{lang|hu|-nek}} form appears after the root with front vowels ({{lang|hu|ö}} and {{lang|hu|e}} are front vowels).

==Features of vowel harmony==

Vowel harmony often involves dimensions such as:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Rose & Walker (2011)<ref name="Blackwell">{{cite book |author1=Rose, S. |author2=Walker, R. |editor1=J. Goldsmith |editor2=J. Riggle |editor3=A. Yu |chapter=Harmony Systems. |title=Handbook of Phonological Theory (2nd ed.) |publisher=Blackwell |date=2011}}</ref>!! Ko (2018)<ref>{{cite book |last=Ko |first=S. |title=Tongue Root Harmony and Vowel Contrast in Northeast Asian Languages |publisher=Otto Harrassowitz |date=2018 }}</ref><ref>Ko, S., Joseph, A., & Whitman, J. (2014). Comparative consequences of the tongue root harmony analysis for proto-Tungusic, proto-Mongolic, and proto-Korean. In M. Robbeets & W. Bisang (Eds.). ''Paradigm Change: In the Transeurasian languages and beyond'' (pp. 141-176). Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.</ref><ref>Ko, S. (2011). Vowel contrast and vowel harmony shift in the Mongolic languages. ''Language Research, 47''(1), 23-43.</ref>!! Dimension !! Value
|-
| Backness Harmony || Palatal harmony || [[Vowel backness]] || back or front
|-
| Round Harmony || Labial harmony || [[Roundedness]] || rounded or unrounded
|-
| Height Harmony || Height harmony || [[Vowel height]] || high or low
|-
| Tongue Root Harmony || Tongue root harmony || [[Advanced and retracted tongue root]] || advanced or retracted
|}

* [[Nasalization]]&nbsp;(i.e. oral or nasal) ''(in this case, a [[nasal consonant]] is usually the trigger)''<ref name="Blackwell"/>
* [[R-colored vowel|Rhoticity]], like in [[Yurok language|Yurok]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Yurok|url=http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~survey/languages/yurok.php|website=Survey of California and Other Indian Languages|publisher=UC Berkeley|access-date=7 January 2017|archive-date=March 1, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130301124432/http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~survey/languages/yurok.php|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Unconventional systems, like the one in [[Nez Perce language|Nez Perce]], that do not seem to be based on any obvious phonetic feature at first.{{sfn|Nelson|2013}}

In many languages, vowels can be said to belong to particular sets or classes, such as back vowels or rounded vowels. Some languages have more than one system of harmony. For instance, [[Altaic languages]] are proposed to have a rounding harmony superimposed over a backness harmony.

Even among languages with vowel harmony, not all vowels need to participate in the vowel conversions; these vowels are termed ''neutral''. Neutral vowels may be ''opaque'' and block harmonic processes or they may be ''transparent'' and not affect them.<ref name="van der Hulst1995" /> Intervening consonants are also often transparent.

Finally, languages that do have vowel harmony often allow for lexical ''disharmony'', or words with mixed sets of vowels even when an opaque neutral vowel is not involved. Van der Hulst & van de Weijer (1995) point to two such situations: polysyllabic trigger morphemes may contain non-neutral vowels from opposite harmonic sets and certain target morphemes simply fail to harmonize.<ref name="van der Hulst1995" /> Many [[loanword]]s exhibit disharmony. For example, Turkish {{lang|tr|vakit}}, ('time' [from Arabic {{Transliteration|ar|waqt}}]); *{{lang|tr|vak'''ı'''t}} would have been expected. Other examples from Finnish include ''olympialaiset'' ('Olympic games') and ''sekundäärinen'' ('secondary') which have both front and back vowels. In standard Finnish, these words are pronounced as they are spelled, but many speakers intuitively apply vowel harmony – ''ol'''u'''mpialaiset'', and ''sekund'''aa'''rinen'' or ''sek'''y'''ndäärinen''.

==Languages with vowel harmony==

===Turkic languages===
Turkic languages inherit their systems of vowel harmony from [[Proto-Turkic]], which already had a fully developed system. The one exception is [[Uzbek language|Uzbek]], which has lost its vowel harmony due to extensive [[Persian language|Persian]] influence; however, its closest relative, [[Uyghur language|Uyghur]], has retained Turkic vowel harmony.

====Azerbaijani====
[[Azerbaijani language|Azerbaijani]]'s system of vowel harmony has both front/back and rounded/unrounded vowels.<ref>{{cite book |last=Öztopçu |first=Kurtuluş |title=Elementary Azerbaijani |publisher=[Simurg] |year=2003 |isbn=975-93773-0-6 |edition=2. printing |location=Santa Monica, Calif. ; İstanbul |pages=32, 49}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! rowspan="2" | Azerbaijani Vowel Harmony
! colspan="2" | Front || colspan="2" | Back
|-
! Unrounded|| Rounded || Unrounded || Rounded
|-
! Vowel 
| e, ə, i || ö, ü || a, ı || o, u
|-
! Two form suffix (iki şəkilli şəkilçilər)
| colspan="2" | ə || colspan="2" | a 
|-
! Four form suffix (dörd şəkilli şəkilçilər) 
| i || ü || ı || u
|}

====Tatar====
[[Tatar language|Tatar]] has no neutral vowels. The vowel é is found only in [[loanword]]s. Other vowels also could be found in loanwords, but they are seen as Back vowels. Tatar language also has a rounding harmony, but it is not represented in writing. O and ö could be written only in the first syllable, but vowels they mark could be pronounced in the place where ı and e are written.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Front
| ä || e || i || ö || ü
|-
! Back
| a || ı || í || o || u || é
|-
|}

====Kazakh====
[[Kazakh language|Kazakh]]'s system of vowel harmony is primarily a front/back system, but there is also a system of rounding harmony that is not represented by the orthography.

====Kyrgyz====
[[Kyrgyz language|Kyrgyz]]'s system of vowel harmony is primarily a front/back system, but there is also a system of rounding harmony, which strongly resembles that of Kazakh.

====Turkish====
[[Turkish language|Turkish]] has a 2-dimensional vowel harmony system, where vowels are characterised by two features: [±front] and [±rounded]. There are two sets of vocal harmony systems: a simple one and a complex one. The simple one is concerned with the '''low vowels e, a''' and has only the [±front] feature (''e'' front vs ''a'' back). The complex one is concerned with the '''high vowels i, ü, ı, u''' and has both [±front] and [±rounded] features (''i'' front unrounded vs ''ü'' front rounded and ''ı'' back unrounded vs ''u'' back rounded). The close-mid vowels ''ö, o'' are not involved in vowel harmony processes.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! rowspan="2" | Turkish Vowel Harmony
! colspan="4" | Front || colspan="4" | Back
|-
! colspan="2" | Unrounded|| colspan="2" | Rounded || colspan="2" | Unrounded || colspan="2" | Rounded
|-
! Vowel 
| style="border-right: 0;" | '''e''' /e/ 
| style="border-left: 0;" | '''i''' /i/ || style="border-right: 0;" |'''ö''' /ø/
| style="border-left: 0;" |'''ü''' /y/ || style="border-right: 0;" |'''a''' /a/
| style="border-left: 0;" | '''ı''' /ɯ/ || style="border-right: 0;" |'''o''' /o/
| style="border-left: 0;" |'''u''' /u/
|- style="text-align: center;"
! Simple system
| colspan="4" | '''e''' || colspan="4" | '''a''' 
|- style="text-align: center;"
! Complex system 
| colspan="2" | '''i''' || colspan="2" | '''ü''' || colspan="2" | '''ı''' || colspan="2" | '''u'''
|}

=====Front/back harmony=====
[[Turkish language|Turkish]] has two classes of vowels{{spaced ndash}}''front'' and ''back''. Vowel harmony states that words may not contain both front and back vowels. Therefore, most grammatical suffixes come in front and back forms, e.g. ''Türkiye''''de''''' "in Turkey" but ''Almanya''''da''''' "in Germany".

{| class="wikitable"
|+Turkish vowel harmony<ref>Examples from {{Harvcoltxt|Roca|Johnson|1999|p=150}}</ref>
|-
! [[Nominative case|Nom]].sg
! [[Genitive case|Gen]].sg.
! Nom.pl
! Gen.pl.
! Gloss
|-
| {{lang|tr|ip}}
| {{lang|tr|ipin}}
| {{lang|tr|ipler}}
| {{lang|tr|iplerin}}
|'rope'
|-
| {{lang|tr|el}}
| {{lang|tr|elin}}
| {{lang|tr|eller}}
| {{lang|tr|ellerin}}
|'hand'
|-
| {{lang|tr|kız}}
| {{lang|tr|kızın}}
| {{lang|tr|kızlar}}
| {{lang|tr|kızların}}
|'girl'
|}

=====Rounding harmony=====
In addition, there is a secondary rule that {{lang|tr|i}} and {{lang|tr|ı}} in suffixes tend to become {{lang|tr|ü}} and {{lang|tr|u}} respectively after rounded vowels, so certain suffixes have additional forms. This gives constructions such as ''Türkiye''''dir''''' "it is Turkey", {{lang|tr|kapı'''dır'''}} "it is the door", but {{lang|tr|gün'''dür'''}} "it is the day", {{lang|tr|karpuz'''dur'''}} "it is the watermelon".

=====Exceptions=====
Not all suffixes obey vowel harmony perfectly.

In the suffix {{lang|tr|-(i)yor}}, the {{lang|tr|o}} is invariant, while the {{lang|tr|i}} changes according to the preceding vowel; for example {{lang|tr|sön'''ü'''y'''o'''r}} – "he/she/it fades". Likewise, in the suffix {{lang|tr|-(y)ken}}, the {{lang|tr|e}} is invariant: {{lang|tr|Roma'dayk'''e'''n}} – "When in Rome"; and so is the {{lang|tr|i}} in the suffix {{lang|tr|-(y)ebil}}: {{lang|tr|inanıl'''a'''b'''i'''lir}} – "credible". The suffix {{lang|tr|-ki}} exhibits partial harmony, never taking a back vowel but allowing only the front-voweled variant {{lang|tr|-kü}}: {{lang|tr|dünk'''ü'''}} – "belonging to yesterday"; {{lang|tr|yarınk'''i'''}} – "belonging to tomorrow".

Most Turkish words do not only have vowel harmony for suffixes, but also internally. However, there are many exceptions.

Compound words are considered separate words with respect to vowel harmony: vowels do not have to harmonize between members of the compound (thus forms like {{lang|tr|''bu''{{pipe}}''gün''|italic=unset}} "this|day" = "today" are permissible). Vowel harmony does not apply for [[loanword]]s, as in {{lang|tr|otobüs}} – from French "autobus". There are also a few native modern Turkish words that do not follow the rule (such as {{lang|tr|anne}} "mother" or {{lang|tr|kardeş}} "sibling" which used to obey vowel harmony in their older forms, {{lang|tr|ana}} and {{lang|tr|karındaş}}, respectively). However, in such words, suffixes nevertheless harmonize with the final vowel; thus {{lang|tr|annes'''i'''}} – "his/her mother", and {{lang|tr|voleybolc'''u'''}} – "volleyballer".

In some loanwords the final vowel is an {{lang|tr|a}}, {{lang|tr|o}} or {{lang|tr|u}} and thus looks like a back vowel, but is phonetically actually a front vowel, and governs vowel harmony accordingly. An example is the word {{lang|tr|saat}}, meaning "hour" or "clock", a loanword from Arabic. Its plural is {{lang|tr|sa'''a'''tl'''e'''r}}. This is not truly an exception to vowel harmony itself; rather, it is an exception to the rule that {{lang|tr|a}} denotes a front vowel.

Disharmony tends to disappear through analogy, especially within loanwords; e.g. {{lang|tr|Hüsnü}} (a man's name) < earlier {{lang|tr|Hüsni}}, from Arabic ''husnî''; {{lang|tr|Müslüman}} "Moslem, Muslim (adj. and n.)" < Ottoman Turkish {{Transliteration|oto|müslimân}}, from Persian ''mosalmân''.

====Tuvan====
[[Tuvan language|Tuvan]] has one of the most complete systems of vowel harmony among the Turkic languages.<ref>Smolek, Amy (2011). Vowel Harmony in Tuvan and Igbo: Statistical and Optimality Theoretic Analyses. Undergraduate Thesis, Swarthmore College https://www.swarthmore.edu/sites/default/files/assets/documents/linguistics/2011_Smolek.pdf</ref>

===Mongolic languages===
Mongolic languages display various vowel harmony systems. While there is some debate, [[Proto-Mongolic language|Proto-Mongolic]] appears to have had a system of backness harmony, from which the modern languages' systems descend.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The phonology of Mongolian |date=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-926017-1 |editor-last=Svantesson |editor-first=Jan-Olof |series=The phonology of the world's languages |location=Oxford ; New York}}</ref>

==== Mongolian ====
[[Mongolian language|Mongolian]] innovates on Proto-Mongolic's system, exhibiting both [[Advanced and retracted tongue root|tongue root harmony]] and rounding harmony. The tongue root harmony involves the vowels: {{IPA|/a, ʊ, ɔ/}} (+RTR) and {{IPA|/i, u, e, o/}} (-RTR). The vowel {{IPA|/i/}} is phonetically similar to the -RTR vowels, but is largely transparent to vowel harmony. Rounding harmony only affects the open vowels, {{IPA|/e, o, a, ɔ/}}. Some sources refer to the primary harmonization dimension as pharyngealization or palatalness (among others), but neither of these is technically correct. Likewise, referring to ±RTR as the sole defining feature of vowel categories in Mongolian is not fully accurate either. In any case, the two vowel categories differ primarily with regards to tongue root position, and ±RTR is a convenient and fairly accurate descriptor for the articulatory parameters involved.<ref>Svantesson, J.-O., Tsendina, A., Karlsson, A., & Franzén, V. (2005). Vowel Harmony. In ''The Phonology of Mongolian'' (pp. 46-57). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.</ref><ref>Godfrey, R. (2012). Opaque intervention in Khalkha Mongolian vowel harmony: A contrastive account. ''McGill Working Papers in Linguistics, 22''(1), 1-14.</ref><ref>Barrere, I., Janhunen, J. (2019). Mongolian Vowel Harmony in a Eurasian Context. ''International Journal of Eurasian Linguistics, 1'' (1).</ref>
{| class="tright wikitable" style="margin-left: 1em"
|-
! -RTR
| э[{{IPA|e}}] || ү[{{IPA|u}}] || ө[{{IPA|o}}] || и[{{IPA|i}}]
|-
! +RTR
| а[{{IPA|a}}] || у[{{IPA|ʊ}}] || о[{{IPA|ɔ}}]
|-
|}

==== Kalmyk-Oirat ====
[[Kalmyk Oirat]], a western Mongolic language, displays very clear backness harmony. Words may only contain back or front vowels, but may be rounded or unrounded. /y/ alternates with /u/, /ø/ alternates with /o/, /æ/ alternates with /a/, and /i/ has the allophonic alternation [ɨ] in suffixes. /e/ is mostly transparent to vowel harmony.

=== Korean ===
[[Korean language|Korean]] is an example of a language with a vowel harmony system that is gradually becoming less productive. While [[Middle Korean]] had strong vowel harmony, modern Korean only retains it in certain cases such as [[onomatopoeia]], [[adjectives]], [[adverbs]], [[Grammatical conjugation|conjugation]], and [[interjection]]s. Many native Korean words demonstrate the formerly productive vowel harmony, such as {{lang|ko|사람}} ({{Transliteration|ko|saram}}, 'person') and {{lang|ko|부엌}} ({{Transliteration|ko|bu-eok}}, 'kitchen').

The current system of Korean vowel harmony is based on the orthographic system where vowels are classified as either positive/light, negative/dark, or neutral. Many scholars treat the positive vowels as +RTR and the negative and neutral vowels as -RTR. The basic conjugations for Korean's tenses demonstrate this vowel harmony, using the +RTR vowel /a/ or -RTR vowel /ʌ/ depending on the last vowel of the verb/adjective stem.
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!
! colspan="2" |'''Positive'''
! colspan="3" |'''Neutral'''
! colspan="2" |'''Negative'''
|-
!Verb/Adjective infinitive form
|알다 [aɭ.da]
|보다 [po.da]
|내다 [nɛ.da]
|예쁘다 [je.p͈ɯ.da]
|피다 [pʰi.da]
|먹다 [mʌk.da]
|주다 [t͡ɕu.da]
|-
!Non-past tense marker
| colspan="2" |아 [a]
| colspan="5" |어 [ʌ]
|-
!(uncontracted) Conjugated form
|알아 [a.ɾa]
|보아 [po.a]
|내어 [nɛ.ʌ]
|예쁘어 [je.p͈ɯ.ʌ]
|피어 [pʰi.ʌ]
|먹어 [mʌ.kʌ]
|주어 [t͡ɕu.ʌ]
|}
Note that the vowel harmony does not spread to subsequent morphemes, such as the polite ending 요 [jo], which uses a +RTR vowel, but occurs the same on words that take the +RTR tense marker.

=== Persian ===
Persian is a language which includes various types of regressive and progressive vowel harmony in different words and expressions.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jam |first=Bashir |date=2020-10-01 |title=Vowel harmony in Persian |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0024384120301133 |journal=Lingua |volume=246 |article-number=102905 |doi=10.1016/j.lingua.2020.102905 |issn=0024-3841|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

In Persian, progressive vowel harmony only applies to prepositions/post-positions when attached to pronouns.
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Preposition/Post-Position
!Pronoun
!Result
|-
|Be (To)
|man (I)
|Behem (to me)
|-
|Az (From)
|man (I)
|Azam (from me)
|-
|Ba (With)
|man (I)
|Baham (with me)
|-
|Ra (At/For)
|man (I)
|Mara (at/for me)
|-
|
|to (you)
|Toro (at/for you)
|}
In Persian, regressive vowel harmony, some features spread from the triggering non-initial vowel to the target vowel in the previous syllable. The application and non-application of this backness harmony which can also be considered rounding harmony.
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Verb
!Result of Rounding Harmony
|-
|Be-do (to run)
|Bodo
|-
|Be-kon (to do)
|Bokon
|-
|Be-ro (to go)
|Boro
|-
|Be-kosh (to kill)
|Bokosh
|}

===Uralic languages===
Many, though not all, Uralic languages show vowel harmony between front and back vowels. Vowel harmony is often hypothesized to have existed in [[Proto-Uralic]], though its original scope remains a matter of discussion.

====Samoyedic====
Vowel harmony is found in [[Nganasan language|Nganasan]] and is reconstructed also for [[Proto-Samoyedic]].

====Hungarian====

=====Vowel types=====
[[Hungarian language|Hungarian]] has a system of ''front'', ''back'', and ''intermediate'' (neutral) vowels and some vowel harmony processes. The basic rule is that words including at least one back vowel get back vowel suffixes ({{lang|hu|kar'''ba'''}} – in(to) the arm), while words excluding back vowels get front vowel suffixes ({{lang|hu|kéz'''be'''}} – in(to) the hand). Single-vowel words which have only the neutral vowels ({{lang|hu|i}}, {{lang|hu|í}} or {{lang|hu|é}}) are unpredictable, but {{lang|hu|e}} takes a front-vowel suffix.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Front
| e || é || i || í || ö || ő || ü || ű
|-
! Back
| a || á || - || - || o || ó || u || ú
|-
|}

======Vowel length======
In Hungarian language there are long, and short vowels
* There are long, and short vowel pairs which are indicated using accents in writing in all but four exceptions with the exceptions possibly be either long, or short as well
* The four exceptions are {{lang|hu|'''a'''}} [{{ipa|ɒ}}], {{lang|hu|'''á'''}} [{{ipa|a:}}], {{lang|hu|'''e'''}} [{{ipa|ɛ}}], {{lang|hu|'''é'''}} [{{ipa|e:}}]
Long vowels compared to short ones are quite simply voiced for a longer period of time. Hungarian long vowels are '''two''' units long compared to other Uralic language Finnish's '''three''' units long vowels. In order for two vowels to be '''long-short pairs''', the long vowel pronounced short must be '''identical''' to its short pair, and vice-versa. In the case of the '''four exceptions''', this is '''not''' applicable because - contrary to their written form - the four exceptions are '''not''' two pairs of long, and short vowels, but vowels with pronunciation difference that is '''not only the length'''

In writing the long of such vowel pairs are marked with stick-like accents most of the time compared to its dot-accented, or non-accented versions
* For example {{lang|hu|pap'''í'''r}} is often pronounced [{{ipa|pɒ'''ppi'''r}}] (double "p" intentional) instead of [{{ipa|pɒ'''pi:'''r}}]
In the four exceptions case the stick-like accent ({{lang|hu|'''á'''}} [{{ipa|a:}}], {{lang|hu|'''é'''}} [{{ipa|e:}}]) refer to long length most if not all the time
* ''Note - while stick like accents mark long - double dot, and double stick accents mark [[Vowel harmony#Vowel cleft lipness|'''cleft lip''']] pronunciation (approaching [{{ipa|ɛ}}] sound)''
In practice these long and short vowels sometimes lengthen, or shorten due to agglutinations. Most if not all the time this change is with written difference (meaning that the accent becomes different according)
* {{lang|hu|h'''í'''d}} - {{lang|hu|h'''i'''dak}} - in this case the pronunciation is according to the words are written (long in the first, short in the second word)
It can happen that an exceptional vowel is gaining, or losing an accent regardless of it not being the long, or the short pair of the other
* {{lang|hu|f'''é'''l}} - {{lang|hu|f'''e'''lek}} - in this case the pronunciation is according to the words are written (long in the first, short in the second word), '''yet''' these are '''not''' long, and short pairs
* {{lang|hu|f'''a'''}} - {{lang|hu|f'''á'''k}} - in this case the pronunciation is according to the words are written (short in the first, long in the second word), '''yet''' these are '''not''' short, and long pairs

======Vowel cleft lipness======
There are cleft lip, and non-cleft lip vowel pairs. Cleft lip vowels approach [{{ipa|ɛ}}] sound when pronounced compared to its non-cleft lip vowel pairs. All these letters (or sounds if you will) other than {{lang|hu|e}} [{{ipa|ɛ}}], and {{lang|hu|é}} [{{ipa|e:}}] are marked with double accents ('''both''' double dot, and double sticks)
* For example {{lang|hu|'''ö'''}} [{{ipa|ø}}] is the short cleft lip version, while {{lang|hu|'''ő'''}} [{{ipa|ø:}}] is the long cleft lip version of {{lang|hu|'''o'''}} [{{ipa|o}}]
Words with such sounds are [[Vowel harmony#Agglutination vowel constraints|often]] agglutinated using cleft lip vowels also
# {{lang|hu|okos}} + '''kd''' = {{lang|hu|ok<u>o</u>sk<u>o</u>d<u>ó</u>}} (he or she is playing smart)
#* '''Non-cleft lip''' vowel of root word to '''non-cleft lip''' vowel in agglutination
# {{lang|hu|hős}} + '''kd''' = {{lang|hu|h<u>ő</u>sk<u>ö</u>d<u>ő</u>}} (he or she is playing hero)
#* '''Cleft lip''' vowel of root word to '''cleft lip''' vowel in agglutination
# {{lang|hu|daru}} + '''z''' = {{lang|hu|dar<u>u</u>z<u>ó</u>}} (he or she is operating a crane often)
#* '''Non-cleft lip''' vowel of root word to '''non-cleft lip''' vowel in agglutination
# {{lang|hu|hegedű}} + '''z''' = {{lang|hu|heged<u>ű</u>z<u>ő</u>}} (he or she is playing on a violin often)
#* '''Cleft lip''' vowel of root word to '''cleft lip''' vowel in agglutination
Naturally since {{lang|hu|e}} [{{ipa|ɛ}}], and {{lang|hu|é}} [{{ipa|e:}}] are also cleft lip (by definition, not by accent on letter) with these as the last vowel of a word the following examples are also valid
# {{lang|hu|foc<u>i</u>}} + '''z''' = {{lang|hu|foc<u>i</u>z<u>ó</u>}} (he or she playing football often)
#* '''Non-cleft lip''' vowel of root word to '''non-cleft lip''' vowel in agglutination
# {{lang|hu|tév<u>é</u>}} + '''z''' = {{lang|hu|tév<u>é</u>z<u>ő</u>}} (he or she is watching tv often)
#* '''Cleft lip''' vowel of root word to '''cleft lip''' vowel in agglutination
# {{lang|hu|l<u>ó</u>}} + '''vgl''' = {{lang|hu|lov<u>a</u>gl<u>ó</u>}} (he or she is riding a horse)
#* '''Non-cleft lip''' vowel of root word to '''non-cleft lip''' vowel in agglutination
# {{lang|hu|tev<u>e</u>}} + '''vgl''' = {{lang|hu|tev<u>e</u>g<u>e</u>l<u>ő</u>}} (he or she is riding a camel)
#* '''Cleft lip''' vowel of root word to '''cleft lip''' vowel in agglutination
* ''Note that "vgl" is '''not''' considered an agglutination, but in the camel's case it is used as one. "To ride" means {{lang|hu|lovagol}}, in which "o", and "l" are supposed to switch places. {{lang|hu|Lovag}} means knight, and "to ride a horse" is "to pretend to be a knight" rather in Hungarian language, but in the word for camel there is a "v", and it is very in a convenient place there. The word for knight is maybe related to the word for horse in Hungarian language''
* ''Note that all these examples here are adjectives, and not very translatable''

=====Behaviour of neutral vowels=====
''Unrounded front vowels'' (or ''Intermediate'' or ''neutral'' vowels) can occur together with either ''back vowels'' (e.g. {{lang|hu|r'''é'''p'''a'''}} carrot, {{lang|hu|k'''o'''cs'''i'''}} car) or ''rounded front vowels'' (e.g. {{lang|hu|tető}}, {{lang|hu|tündér}}), but ''rounded front vowels'' and ''back vowels'' can occur together only in words of foreign origins (e.g. {{lang|hu|sofőr}} = chauffeur, French word for driver). The basic rule is that words including at least one back vowel take back vowel suffixes (e.g. {{lang|hu|répában}} in a carrot, {{lang|hu|kocsiban}} in a car), while words excluding back vowels usually take front vowel suffixes (except for words including only the vowels {{lang|hu|i}}, {{lang|hu|í}}, and {{lang|hu|é}}, for which there is no general rule, e.g. {{lang|hu|lisztet}} against {{lang|hu|hidat}}, or {{lang|hu|céloz}} against {{lang|hu|rémes}}).

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!scope="col" colspan="2"|
!scope="col"| open
!scope="col"| middle
!scope="col"| closed
|-
!colspan="2" scope="row"| Back {{nobold|("low")}}
| a á || o ó || u ú
|-
!rowspan="2" scope="row"| Front {{nobold|("high")}}
! unrounded {{nobold|(neutral)}}
| &nbsp; || e é || i í
|-
! rounded
| &nbsp; || ö ő || ü ű
|-
|}

Some other rules and guidelines to consider:
* Compound words get suffix according to the last word, e.g.: {{lang|hu|ártér}} (floodplain) compound of {{lang|hu|ár}} + {{lang|hu|tér}} front vowel suffix just as the word {{lang|hu|tér}} when stands alone ({{lang|hu|téren}}, {{lang|hu|ártéren}})
* In case of words of obvious foreign origins: only the last vowel counts (if it is not {{lang|hu|i}} or {{lang|hu|í}}): {{lang|hu|sof'''ő'''rh'''ö'''z}}, {{lang|hu|nü'''a'''nszsz'''a'''l}}, {{lang|hu|gener'''á'''l'''á'''s}}, {{lang|hu|októb'''e'''rb'''e'''n}}, {{lang|hu|parlam'''e'''ntb'''e'''n}}, {{lang|hu|szoftv'''e'''rr'''e'''l}}
** If the last vowel of the foreign word is {{lang|hu|i}} or {{lang|hu|í}}, then the last but one vowel will be taken into consideration, e.g. {{lang|hu|p'''a'''pírh'''o'''z}}, {{lang|hu|R'''a'''shidd'''a'''l}}. If the foreign word includes only the vowels {{lang|hu|i}} or {{lang|hu|í}} then it gets front vowel suffix, e.g.: {{lang|hu|Mitch-nek}} ( = "for Mitch")
** There are some non-Hungarian geographical names that have no vowels at all (e.g. the Croatian island of {{lang|hu|Krk}}), in which case as the word does not include back vowel, it gets front vowel suffix (e.g. {{lang|hu|Krk-re}} = to Krk)
* For acronyms: the last vowel counts (just as in case of foreign words), e.g.: {{lang|hu|HR}} (pronounced: {{lang|hu|há-er}}) gets front vowel suffix as the last pronounced vowel is front vowel ({{lang|hu|HR-rel}} = with HR)
* Some 1-syllable Hungarian words with '''i''', '''í''' or '''é''' are strictly using front suffixes ({{lang|hu|g'''é'''pr'''e'''}}, {{lang|hu|m'''é'''lyr'''ő'''l}}, {{lang|hu|v'''í'''z}} > {{lang|hu|v'''i'''z'''e'''t}}, {{lang|hu|h'''í'''r'''e'''k}}), while some others can take back suffixes only ({{lang|hu|h'''é'''j'''a'''k, sz'''í'''jr'''ó'''l}}, {{lang|hu|ny'''í'''l}} > {{lang|hu|ny'''i'''l'''a'''t}}, {{lang|hu|zs'''í'''rb'''a'''n}}, {{lang|hu|'''í'''r'''á'''s}})
* Some foreign words that have fit to the Hungarian language and start with back vowel and end with front vowel can take either front or back suffixes (so can be optionally considered foreign word or Hungarian word): {{lang|hu|f'''a'''rmerb'''a'''n}} or {{lang|hu|farm'''e'''rb'''e'''n}}
<!-- Source in Hungarian: http://www.mancs.hu/index.php?gcPage=/public/hirek/hir.php&id=12241 -->

=====Suffixes with multiple forms=====
Grammatical suffixes in Hungarian can have one, two, three, or four forms:
* ''one form'': every word gets the same suffix regardless of the included vowels (e.g. {{lang|hu|-kor}})
* ''two forms'' (most common): words get either back vowel or front vowel suffix (as mentioned above) (e.g. {{lang|hu|-ban/-ben}})
* ''three forms'': there is one back vowel form and two front vowel forms; one for words whose last vowel is rounded front vowel and one for words whose last vowel is not rounded front vowel (e.g. {{lang|hu|-hoz/-hez/-höz}})
* ''four forms'': there are two back vowel forms and two front vowel forms (e.g. {{lang|hu|-ot/-at/-et/-öt}} or simply {{lang|hu|-t}}, if the last sound is a vowel)
An example on basic numerals:

{| class="wikitable" style="padding:0; spacing:0; margin:0"
|-
!colspan="3" scope="row"|
! scope="col" | {{lang|hu|-kor}} {{nobold|(''at'',&nbsp;for&nbsp;time)}}
! scope="col" | {{lang|hu|-ban/-ben}} {{nobold|(''in'')}}
! scope="col" | {{nowrap|{{lang|hu|-hoz/-hez/-höz}}}} {{nobold|(''to'')}}
! scope="col" | {{nowrap|{{lang|hu|-t/-ot/-at/-et/-öt}}}} {{nobold|(accusative)}}
|-
! rowspan="2" scope="row" | Back
!<small>{{nobold|(regular stem)}}</small>
|h'''a'''t&nbsp;(6)
| rowspan="4" |{{lang|hu|hat'''kor'''<br />nyolc'''kor'''<br />három'''kor'''<br />–<br />egy'''kor'''<br />négy'''kor'''<br />kilenc'''kor'''<br />tíz'''kor'''<br />öt'''kor'''<br />kettő'''kor'''}}
| rowspan="2" |{{lang|hu|hat'''ban'''<br />nyolc'''ban'''<br />három'''ban'''<br />száz'''ban'''}}
| rowspan="2" |{{lang|hu|hat'''hoz'''<br />nyolc'''hoz'''<br />három'''hoz'''<br />száz'''hoz'''}}
|hat'''ot'''
|-
!<small>{{nobold|(low-vowel stem)}}</small>
| {{lang|hu|ny'''o'''lc}}&nbsp;(8)<br />{{lang|hu|h'''á'''r'''o'''m}}&nbsp;(3)<br />{{lang|hu|sz'''á'''z}}&nbsp;(100)
|{{lang|hu|nyolc'''at'''<br />hárm'''at'''<br />száz'''at'''}}
|-
! rowspan="2" scope="row" | Front
! scope="row" | unrounded {{nobold|(neutral)}}
| {{lang|hu|'''e'''gy}}&nbsp;(1)<br />{{lang|hu|n'''é'''gy}}&nbsp;(4)<br />{{lang|hu|k'''i'''l'''e'''nc}}&nbsp;(9)<br />{{lang|hu|t'''í'''z}}&nbsp;(10)
| rowspan="2" | {{lang|hu|egy'''ben'''<br />négy'''ben'''<br />kilenc'''ben'''<br />tíz'''ben'''<br />öt'''ben'''<br />kettő'''ben'''}}
| {{lang|hu|egy'''hez'''<br />négy'''hez'''<br />kilenc'''hez'''<br />tíz'''hez'''}}
| {{lang|hu|egy'''et''' <br /> négy'''et''' <br /> kilenc'''et'''<br />tíz'''et'''}}
|-
! scope="row" | rounded
| {{lang|hu|'''ö'''t}}&nbsp;(5)<br />{{lang|hu|kett'''ő'''}}&nbsp;(2)
| {{lang|hu|öt'''höz'''<br />kettő'''höz'''}}
| {{lang|hu|öt'''öt''' <br /> kettő'''t'''}}
|}

=====Agglutination vowel constraints=====
Hungarian language is a consonant oriented language that makes vowel harmony possible, but the vowels in agglutinations can not be changed according to free will. Some of such vowels even change the meaning of the word
* For this reason the vowels in agglutinations are constrained seemingly arbitrary
For example it was [[Vowel harmony#Vowel cleft lipness|mentioned]] that the last cleft lip vowel in the root of the word induces an agglutination with also at least one cleft lip vowel in it, however this is not always the case due to certain agglutinations are constrained. One good example is the {{lang|hu|-k'''o'''r}} agglutination that can not take any other vowel, but '''o'''
* {{lang|hu|<u>ö</u>t<u>ö</u>t}} - in accusative case the vowel before '''t''' is '''not as''' constrained
* {{lang|hu|<u>ö</u>tk<u>o</u>r}} - in this case {{lang|hu|o}} vowel is constrained not to be cleft lip
* {{lang|hu|<u>e</u>gyk<u>o</u>r}} - in this case {{lang|hu|o}} vowel is constrained not to be frontal (high), and not to be cleft lip
There are further examples of vowel constraints in agglutinations not only for cleft lip-ness with some agglutination possessing
# only one ({{lang|hu|-k'''o'''r}}, etc...)
# only two ({{lang|hu|-z'''ó'''}} - {{lang|hu|-z'''ő'''}}, {{lang|hu|-'''á'''s}} - {{lang|hu|-'''é'''s}}, {{lang|hu|-v'''a'''l}} - {{lang|hu|-v'''e'''l}}, etc...)
# only three ({{lang|hu|-h'''e'''z}} - {{lang|hu|-h'''ö'''z}} - {{lang|hu|-h'''o'''z}})
# or more forms (accusative case, etc..)
The vowel in these forms are only short, or only long
* Generally speaking an agglutination with a given meaning - or even a given context of meaning'''s''' - may only possess either a long, or a short vowel throughout its forms regarding constraints
In the following examples the used vowels in the agglutinations change the meaning
# {{lang|hu|tévé}} + '''zk''' = {{lang|hu|tévéz<u>e</u>k}} - <u>i</u> am watching tv
# {{lang|hu|tévé}} + '''zk''' = {{lang|hu|tévéz<u>i</u>k}} - <u>he</u> is watching tv
# {{lang|hu|tévé}} + '''zk''' = {{lang|hu|tévéz<u>ő</u>k}} - <u>people who are</u> watching tv
As you can see in the last example's agglutination of {{lang|hu|tévé'''z<u>ő</u>k'''}} is with '''long''' vowel. This resulted in a '''noun''', not a '''verb'''. The '''long''' vowel renders meaning completely detached of the other two examples' context. The other two are in a context with only '''short''' vowels, with the rest of their context is the following:
# {{lang|hu|tévé}} + '''zl''' = {{lang|hu|tévéz<u>e</u>l}} - <u>you (singular)</u> are watching tv
#* Agglutination {{lang|hu|-z'''e'''l}} is with '''short''' vowel
# {{lang|hu|tévé}} + '''ztk''' = {{lang|hu|tévézt<u>e</u>k}} - <u>you (plural)</u> are watching tv
#* Agglutination {{lang|hu|-zt'''e'''k}} is with '''short''' vowel
# {{lang|hu|tévé}} + '''znk''' = {{lang|hu|tévéz<u>ü</u>nk}} - <u>we</u> are watching tv
#* Agglutination {{lang|hu|-z'''ü'''nk}} is with '''short''' vowel
# {{lang|hu|tévé}} + '''znk''' = {{lang|hu|tévézn<u>e</u>k}} - <u>they</u> are watching tv
#* Agglutination {{lang|hu|-zn'''e'''k}} is with '''short''' vowel
Likewise using the same agglutination used to {{lang|hu|tévé'''z<u>ő</u>k'''}}, the word {{lang|hu|uta'''z<u>ó</u>k'''}} is also with '''long''' vowel, that is also a '''noun''' against {{lang|hu|uta'''z<u>o</u>k'''}} with a '''short''' vowel that is likewise a '''verb'''

====Mansi====
Vowel harmony occurred in [[Southern Mansi]].

====Khanty====
In the [[Khanty language]], vowel harmony occurs in the Eastern dialects, and affects both inflectional and derivational suffixes. The Vakh-Vasyugan dialect has a particularly extensive system of vowel harmony:<ref>{{cite book|title=Eastern Ostyak chrestomathy|first=János|last=Gulya|year=1966|series=Indiana University Publications, Uralic and Altaic series|volume=51|pages=37–39}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Trigger Vowels
|-
! Front
| {{IPA|/æ/}} || {{IPA|/ø/}} || {{IPA|/y/}} || {{IPA|/i/}} || {{IPA|/ɪ/}} || {{IPA|/ʏ/}} || {{IPA|/e/}} || {{IPA|/œ/}}
|-
! Back
| {{IPA|/ɑ/}} || {{IPA|/o/}} || {{IPA|/u/}} || {{IPA|/ɯ/}} || {{IPA|/ʌ/}} || {{IPA|/ʊ/}} ||  || {{IPA|/ɔ/}}
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Target Vowels
|-
! Front
| {{IPA|/æ/}} || {{IPA|/ø/}} || {{IPA|/y/}} || {{IPA|/i/}} || {{IPA|/ɪ/}} || {{IPA|/ʏ/}}
|-
! Back
| {{IPA|/ɑ/}} || {{IPA|/o/}} || {{IPA|/u/}} || {{IPA|/ɯ/}} || {{IPA|/ʌ/}} || {{IPA|/ʊ/}}
|}

Trigger vowels occur in the first syllable of a word, and control the backness of the entire word. Target vowels are affected by vowel harmony and are arranged in seven front-back pairs of similar height and roundedness, which are assigned the archiphonemes A, O, U, I, Ɪ, Ʊ.

The vowels {{IPA|/e/}}, {{IPA|/œ/}} and {{IPA|/ɔ/}} appear only in the first syllable of a word, and are thus strictly trigger vowels. All other vowel qualities may act in both roles.

Vowel harmony is lost in the Northern and Southern dialects, as well as in the Surgut dialect of Eastern Khanty.

====Mari====
Most varieties of the [[Mari language]] have vowel harmony.

====Erzya====
The [[Erzya language]] has a limited system of vowel harmony, involving only two vowel phonemes: {{IPA|/e/}} (front) versus {{IPA|/o/}} (back).

[[Moksha language|Moksha]], the closest relative of Erzya, has no phonemic vowel harmony, though {{IPA|/ə/}} has front and back [[allophone]]s in a distribution similar to the vowel harmony in Erzya.

====Finnic languages====
Vowel harmony is found in most of the [[Finnic languages]]. It has been lost in [[Livonian language|Livonian]] and in Standard [[Estonian language|Estonian]], where the front vowels ''ü'' ''ä'' ''ö'' occur only in the first (stressed) syllable. [[South Estonian language|South Estonian]] [[Võro language|Võro]] (and [[Seto language|Seto]]) language as well as some [North] Estonian dialects, however, retain vowel harmony.

=====Finnish=====
[[File:Finnish vowel harmony Venn diagram.svg|thumb|A diagram illustrating vowel harmony in Finnish.]]
[[File:Finnish vowel harmony.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Finnish vowel harmony and case agreement exemplified by {{lang|fi|mahdollisissa yllättävissä tilanteissa}} ("in possible unexpected situations"): {{lang|fi|mahdollinen}} takes {{lang|fi|-ssa}}, {{lang|fi|yllättävä}} takes {{lang|fi|-ssä}} and {{lang|fi|tilanne}}, with a neutral vowel first but a back vowel second, takes {{lang|fi|-ssa}}.]]

In the [[Finnish language]], there are three classes of vowels{{spaced ndash}}''front'', ''back'', and ''neutral'', where each front vowel has a back vowel pairing. Grammatical endings such as case and derivational endings{{spaced ndash}}but not [[enclitic]]s{{spaced ndash}}have only archiphonemic vowels U, O, A, which are realized as either back {{IPA|[u, o, ɑ]}} or front {{IPA|[y, ø, æ]}} inside a single word. From vowel harmony it follows that the initial syllable of each single (non-compound) word controls the frontness or backness of the entire word. Non-initially, the neutral vowels are transparent to and unaffected by vowel harmony. In the initial syllable:
# a back vowel causes all non-initial syllables to be realized with back (or neutral) vowels, e.g. {{lang|fi|pos+ahta+(t)a}} → {{lang|fi|posahtaa}}
# a front vowel causes all non-initial syllables to be realized with front (or neutral) vowels, e.g. {{lang|fi|räj+ahta+(t)a}} → {{lang|fi|räjähtää}}.
# a neutral vowel acts like a front vowel, but does not control the frontness or backness of the word: if there are back vowels in non-initial syllables, the word acts like it began with back vowels, even if they come from derivational endings, e.g. {{lang|fi|sih+ahta+(t)a}} → {{lang|fi|sihahtaa}} cf. {{lang|fi|sih+ise+(t)a}} → {{lang|fi|sihistä}}.

For example:
* {{lang|fi|kaura}} begins with back vowel → {{lang|fi|kauralla}}
* {{lang|fi|kuori}} begins with back vowel → {{lang|fi|kuorella}}
* {{lang|fi|sieni}} begins without back vowels → {{lang|fi|sienellä}} (not {{lang|fi|*sienella}})
* {{lang|fi|käyrä}} begins without back vowels → {{lang|fi|käyrällä}}
* {{lang|fi|tuote}} begins with back vowels → {{lang|fi|tuotteessa}}
* {{lang|fi|kerä}} begins with a neutral vowel → {{lang|fi|kerällä}}
* {{lang|fi|kera}} begins with a neutral vowel, but has a noninitial back vowel → {{lang|fi|keralla}}

Some dialects that have a sound change opening diphthong codas also permit archiphonemic vowels in the initial syllable. For example, standard 'ie' is reflected as 'ia' or 'iä', controlled by noninitial syllables, in the Tampere dialect, e.g. {{lang|fi|tiä}} ← {{lang|fi|tie}} but {{lang|fi|miakka}} ← {{lang|fi|miekka}}

... as evidenced by {{lang|fi|tuotteessa}} (not {{lang|fi|*tuotteessä}}). Even if [[phonology|phonologically]] front vowels precede the suffix {{lang|fi|-nsa}}, grammatically it is preceded by a word controlled by a back vowel. As shown in the examples, neutral vowels make the system unsymmetrical, as they are front vowels phonologically, but leave the front/back control to any grammatical front or back vowels. There is little or no change in the actual vowel quality of the neutral vowels.

As a consequence, Finnish speakers often have problems with pronouncing foreign words which do not obey vowel harmony. For example, {{lang|fi|olympia}} is often pronounced {{lang|fi|olumpia}}. The position of some loans is unstandardized (e.g. {{lang|fi|chattailla/chättäillä}}) or ill-standardized (e.g. {{lang|fi|polymeeri}}, sometimes pronounced {{lang|fi|polumeeri}}, and {{lang|fi|autoritäärinen}}, which violate vowel harmony). Where a foreign word violates vowel harmony by not using front vowels because it begins with a neutral vowel, then last syllable generally counts, although this rule is irregularly followed.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Ringen | first1 = Catherine O. | last2 = Heinämäki | first2 = Orvokki | title = Variation in Finnish Vowel Harmony: An OT Account | journal = Natural Language & Linguistic Theory | volume = 17 | issue = 2| year = 1999 | pages = 303–337 | doi = 10.1023/A:1006158818498 | s2cid = 169988008 }}</ref> Experiments indicate that e.g. {{lang|fi|miljonääri}} always becomes (front) {{lang|fi|miljonääriä}}, but {{lang|fi|marttyyri}} becomes equally frequently both {{lang|fi|marttyyria}} (back) and {{lang|fi|marttyyriä}} (front), even by the same speaker.

With respect to vowel harmony, compound words can be considered separate words. For example, {{lang|fi|syyskuu}} ("autumn month" i.e. September) has both ''u'' and ''y'', but it consists of two words {{lang|fi|syys}} and {{lang|fi|kuu}}, and declines {{lang|fi|syys·kuu·ta}} (not {{lang|fi|*syyskuutä}}). The same goes for enclitics, e.g. {{lang|fi|taaksepäin}} "backwards" consists of the word {{lang|fi|taakse}} "to back" and {{lang|fi|-päin}} "-wards", which gives e.g. {{lang|fi|taaksepäinkään}} (not {{lang|fi|*taaksepäinkaan}} or {{lang|fi|*taaksepainkaan}}). If fusion takes place, the vowel is harmonized by some speakers, e.g. {{lang|fi|tälläinen}} pro {{lang|fi|tällainen}} ← {{lang|fi|tämän lainen}}.

Some Finnish words whose stems contain only neutral vowels exhibit an alternating pattern in terms of vowel harmony when inflected or forming new words through derivation. Examples include {{lang|fi|meri}} "sea", {{lang|fi|meressä}} "in the sea" ([[inessive]]), but {{lang|fi|merta}} ([[partitive]]), not {{lang|fi|*mertä}}; {{lang|fi|veri}} "blood", {{lang|fi|verestä}} "from the blood" ([[elative case|elative]]), but {{lang|fi|verta}} (partitive), not {{lang|fi|*vertä}}; {{lang|fi|pelätä}} "to be afraid", but {{lang|fi|pelko}} "fear", not {{lang|fi|*pelkö}}; {{lang|fi|kipu}} "pain", but {{lang|fi|kipeä}} "sore", not {{lang|fi|*kipea}}.

[[Helsinki slang]] has slang words that have roots violating vowel harmony, e.g. {{lang|fi|Sörkka}}. This can be interpreted as Swedish influence.

=====Veps=====

The [[Veps language]] has partially lost vowel harmony.

===Yokuts===

Vowel harmony is present in all [[Yokutsan languages]] and dialects. For instance, [[Yawelmani language|Yawelmani]] has 4 vowels (which additionally may be either [[Vowel length|long]] or short). These can be grouped as in the table below.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! || Unrounded || Rounded
|-
! High
| {{IPA|i}} || {{IPA|u}}
|-
! Low
| {{IPA|a}} || {{IPA|ɔ}}
|-
|}

Vowels in suffixes must harmonize with either {{IPA|/u/}} or its non-{{IPA|/u/}} counterparts or with {{IPA|/ɔ/}} or non-{{IPA|/ɔ/}} counterparts. For example, the vowel in the [[aorist]] suffix appears as {{IPA|/u/}} when it follows a {{IPA|/u/}} in the root, but when it follows all other vowels it appears as {{IPA|/i/}}. Similarly, the vowel in the nondirective gerundial suffix appears as {{IPA|/ɔ/}} when it follows an {{IPA|/ɔ/}} in the root; otherwise it appears as {{IPA|/a/}}.

{| class="wikitable"
! Word || IPA || Comment
|-
| ''-hun''/''-hin'' || &nbsp; || (aorist suffix)
|-
| ''muṭhun'' || {{IPA|[muʈhun]}} || 'swear (aorist)'
|-
| ''giy̓hin'' || {{IPA|[ɡijˀhin]}} || 'touch (aorist)'
|-
| ''gophin'' || {{IPA|[ɡɔphin]}} || 'take of infant (aorist)'
|-
| ''xathin'' || {{IPA|[xathin]}} || 'eat (aorist)'
|-
| ''-tow''/''-taw'' || &nbsp; || (nondirective gerundial suffix)
|-
| ''goptow'' || {{IPA|[ɡɔptɔw]}} || 'take care of infant (nondir. ger.)'
|-
| ''giy̓taw'' || {{IPA|[ɡijˀtaw]}} || 'touch (nondir. ger.)'
|-
| ''muṭtaw'' || {{IPA|[muʈtaw]}} || 'swear (nondir. ger.)'
|-
| ''xattaw'' || {{IPA|[xatːaw]}} || 'eat (nondir. ger.)'
|}

In addition to the harmony found in suffixes, there is a harmony restriction on word stems where in stems with more than one syllable all vowels are required to be of the same lip rounding and tongue height dimensions. For example, a stem must contain all high rounded vowels or all low rounded vowels, etc. This restriction is further complicated by (i) long high vowels being lowered and (ii) an [[epenthetic vowel]] {{IPA|[i]}} which does not harmonize with stem vowels.

===Sumerian===
There is some evidence for vowel harmony according to [[vowel height]] or [[Advanced tongue root|ATR]] in the prefix i<sub>3</sub>/e- in inscriptions from pre-[[Sargon the Great|Sargonic]] [[Lagash]] (the specifics of the pattern have led a handful of scholars to postulate not only an {{IPA|/o/}} phoneme, but even an {{IPA|/ɛ/}} and, most recently, an {{IPA|/ɔ/}})<ref>{{cite journal| last=Smith| first=Eric J M| year=2007| title=Harmony and the Vowel Inventory of Sumerian| journal=Journal of Cuneiform Studies| volume=57}}</ref> Many cases of partial or complete [[Assimilation (linguistics)|assimilation]] of the vowel of certain prefixes and suffixes to one in the adjacent syllable are reflected in writing in some of the later periods, and there is a noticeable though not absolute tendency for disyllabic stems to have the same vowel in both syllables.<ref>{{cite book| author1-last=Michalowski| author1-first=Piotr| year=2008| chapter=Sumerian| editor1-last=Woodard| editor1-first=Roger D| title=The Ancient Languages of Mesopotamia, Egypt and Aksum| publisher=Cambridge University Press| page=17}}</ref> What appears to be [[Contraction (phonology)|vowel contraction]] in [[Hiatus (linguistics)|hiatus]] (*/aa/, */ia/, */ua/ > a, */ae/ > a, */ue/ > u, etc.) is also very common.

===Other languages===
Vowel harmony occurs to some degree in many other languages, such as
* Several dialects of [[Arabic]] (see [[imala]]) including:
** [[Palestinian Arabic]]<ref>Issam M. Abu-Salim ''Journal of Linguistics'' Vol. 23, No. 1 (Mar., 1987), pp. 1–24</ref> 
** [[Iraqi Arabic]]
** [[Lebanese Arabic]]
* [[Akan languages]] (tongue root position)
* [[Assamese language|Assamese]]
* [[Australian Aboriginal languages]]
** [[Jingulu language|Jingulu]] 
** [[Warlpiri language|Warlpiri]]
* [[Assyrian Neo-Aramaic]] (vowel harmony of one particular timbre across all vowels of a word)<ref name="Khan2016">{{cite book|author=Geoffrey Khan|title=The Neo-Aramaic Dialect of the Assyrian Christians of Urmi (4 vols)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_C5RDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA138|date=16 June 2016|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-31393-4|pages=138–}}</ref>
* Several [[Bantu languages]] such as:
** Standard [[Lingala language|Lingala]] (height)
** [[Kgalagadi language|Kgalagadi]] (height)<ref name="bantu-languages">Derek Nurse, Gérard Philippson, ''The Bantu languages'', Routledge, 2003. {{ISBN|0-7007-1134-1}}</ref>
** [[Malila language|Malila]] (height)<ref>{{Cite journal| author=Lojenga, Constance Kutsch| title=Two types of vowel harmony in Malila (M.24)| url=http://www.fflch.usp.br/dl/wocal6special/downloads/Lojenga.pdf| publisher=[[SIL International|SIL]], [[Leiden University]]| access-date=22 November 2009| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719051129/http://www.fflch.usp.br/dl/wocal6special/downloads/Lojenga.pdf| archive-date=19 July 2011}}</ref>
** [[Phuthi language|Phuthi]] (right-to-left and left-to-right)<ref name="bantu-languages"/>
**[[Shona language|Shona]]<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Beckman|first=Jill N.|date=1997|title=Positional Faithfulness, Positional Neutralisation and Shona Vowel Harmony|journal=Phonology|volume=14|issue=1|pages=1–46|doi=10.1017/S0952675797003308|jstor=4420090|s2cid=8386444 |issn=0952-6757}}</ref>
** [[Southern Sotho]] (right-to-left and left-to-right)<ref name="bantu-languages"/>
** [[Northern Sotho]] (right-to-left and left-to-right)<ref name="bantu-languages"/>
** [[Tswana language|Tswana]] (right-to-left and left-to-right)<ref name="bantu-languages"/>
* [[Bezhta language|Bezhta]]
* Some [[Chadic languages]], such as [[Buwal language|Buwal]]
* [[Chukchi language|Chukchi]]
* [[Coeur d'Alene language|Coeur d'Alene]] (tongue root position and height)
* [[Coosan languages]]
* [[Dusunic languages]]
* <!-- Modern -->[[Languages of Iberia|Iberian languages]]
** [[Astur-Leonese]]<ref name=AAC>{{cite web| url = http://personales.uniovi.es/web/ariasal/| title = Álvaro Arias. «La armonización vocálica en fonología funcional (de lo sintagmático en fonología a propósito de dos casos de metafonía hispánica)», ''Moenia'' 11 (2006): 111–139.}}</ref>
** [[Galician language|Galician]]<ref name=AAC /> and [[Portuguese dialects]]
** [[Catalan language|Catalan]]/[[Valencian language|Valencian]]<ref name="lloret"/>
** Eastern [[Andalusian Spanish]]<ref name="lloret">{{Harvcoltxt|Lloret|2007}}</ref>
** [[Murcian Spanish]]<ref name="lloret"/>
* [[Igbo language|Igbo]] (tongue root position)
*[[Italo-Romance]] languages: several [[Swiss Italian]] dialects (including total vowel harmony systems).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Fonetica e fonologia dell'armonia vocalica. Esiti di -A nei dialetti della Svizzera italiana in prospettiva romanza|last=Delucchi|first=Rachele|publisher=Narr Francke Verlag|year=2016|isbn=978-3-7720-8509-3|location=Tübingen}}</ref>
* [[Japanese language]] - in some of the Kansai dialects.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Z. Yoshida|first1=Yuko|title=Accents in Tokyo and Kyoto Japanese Vowel Quality in terms of Duration and Licensing Potency|url=https://www.soas.ac.uk/linguistics/research/workingpapers/volume-14/file37826.pdf|access-date=25 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220111215715/https://www.soas.ac.uk/linguistics/research/workingpapers/volume-14/file37826.pdf|archive-date=11 January 2022}}</ref> Additionally, some {{who|date=March 2015}} consider that vowel harmony must have existed at one time in [[Old Japanese]], though there is no broad consensus. See the pertinent {{pslink|Old Japanese|Phonology}}.
* [[Maiduan languages]]
* [[Nez Perce language|Nez Percé]]
* [[Nilotic languages]]
* [[Qiangic languages|Qiang]] ([[rhotic vowel]] harmony)
* [[Scots language|Buchan Scots]] is a Scots dialect with vowel height harmony, compare {{IPA|[here]}} "hairy", {{IPA|[rili]}} "really". This effect is blocked by [[voiced]] [[obstruents]] and certain [[consonant clusters]]: {{IPA|[bebi]}} "baby", {{IPA|[lʌmpi]}} "lumpy".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Paster|first=Mary|date=2004|title=Vowel height harmony and blocking in Buchan Scots|url=http://pages.pomona.edu/~MP034747/BuchanScots.pdf|journal=Phonology|volume=21|issue=3|pages=359–407|doi=10.1017/S0952675704000314|s2cid=53455589}}</ref>
* [[Somali language|Somali]]
* [[Takelma language|Takelma]]
* [[Telugu language|Telugu]]
* Several [[Tibetic languages]], including [[Lhasa Tibetan]]<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DSrbZV1c-oMC&pg=PP1|title=Tibetan|isbn=90-272-3803-0|last1=Denwood|first1=Philip|date=January 1999}}</ref>
* [[Tungusic languages]], such as [[Manchu language|Manchu]]
* [[Utian languages]]
*[[Urhobo language|Urhobo]]
* [[Yurok language|Yurok]] ([[rhotic vowel]] harmony)

==Other types of harmony==

Although vowel harmony is the most well-known harmony, not all types of harmony that occur in the world's languages involve only vowels. Other types of harmony involve consonants (and is known as [[consonant harmony]]). Rarer types of harmony are those that involve [[Tone (linguistics)|tone]] or both vowels and consonants (e.g. ''postvelar harmony'').

===Vowel–consonant harmony===

Some languages have harmony processes that involve an interaction between vowels and consonants. For example, [[Chilcotin language|Chilcotin]] has a phonological process known as ''vowel flattening'' (i.e. post-velar harmony) where vowels must harmonize with [[uvular]] and [[pharyngealisation|pharyngealized]] consonants.

Chilcotin has two classes of vowels:

* "flat" vowels {{IPA|[ᵊi, e, ᵊɪ, o, ɔ, ə, a]}}
* non-"flat" vowels {{IPA|[i, ɪ, u, ʊ, æ, ɛ]}}

Additionally, Chilcotin has a class of pharyngealized "flat" consonants {{IPA|[tsˤ, tsʰˤ, tsʼˤ, sˤ, zˤ]}}. Whenever a consonant of this class occurs in a word, all preceding vowels must be flat vowels.

{|
| {{IPA|[jətʰeɬtsˤʰosˤ]}} || 'he's holding it (fabric)'
|-
| {{IPA|[ʔapələsˤ]}} || 'apples'
|-
| {{IPA|[natʰákʼə̃sˤ]}} || 'he'll stretch himself'
|}

If flat consonants do not occur in a word, then all vowels will be of the non-flat class:

{|
| {{IPA|[nænɛntʰǽsʊç]}} || 'I'll comb hair'
|-
| {{IPA|[tetʰǽskʼɛn]}} || 'I'll burn it'
|-
| {{IPA|[tʰɛtɬʊç]}} || 'he laughs'
|}

Other languages of this region of North America (the Plateau culture area), such as [[St'at'imcets language#Phonological processes|St'át'imcets]], have similar vowel–consonant harmonic processes.

===Syllabic synharmony===
Syllabic synharmony was a process in the [[Proto-Slavic language]] ancestral to all modern [[Slavic languages]]. It refers to the tendency of frontness (palatality) to be generalised across an entire syllable. It was therefore a form of consonant–vowel harmony in which the property 'palatal' or 'non-palatal' applied to an entire syllable at once rather than to each sound individually.

The result was that back vowels were fronted after ''j'' or a palatal consonant, and consonants were palatalised before ''j'' or a front vowel. Diphthongs were harmonized as well, although they were soon monophthongized because of a tendency to end syllables with a vowel (syllables were or became open). This rule remained in place for a long time, and ensured that a syllable containing a front vowel always began with a palatal consonant, and a syllable containing ''j'' was always preceded by a palatal consonant and followed by a front vowel.

A similar process occurs in [[Skolt Sami language|Skolt Sami]], where palatalization of consonants and fronting of vowels is a [[Skolt Sami language#Suprasegmentals|suprasegmental]] process applying to a whole syllable. Suprasegmental palatalization is marked with the letter ''ʹ'', which is a [[Modifier letter prime]], for example in the word ''vääʹrr'' 'mountain, hill'.

=== Rhotic harmony ===
The Mawo dialect of [[Northern Qiang language|Northern Qiang]] displays rhotic harmony, where vowels must align with the previous vowel's [[R-colored vowel|rhoticity]].<ref name=":04">{{harvp|LaPolla|2003}}</ref>

=== Unconventional systems ===
Languages such as [[Nez Perce language|Nez Perce]] and [[Chukchi language|Chukchi]] have vowel harmony systems which can not be easily explained in terms of height, backness, tongue root, or rounding. In Nez Perce, Katherine Nelson (2013){{sfn|Nelson|2013}} proposes that the two sets of vowels ("dominant" /i a o/ and "recessive" /i æ u/) be considered as distinct "triangles" of vowel space, each by themselves maximally dispersed, where one set is somewhat retracted (further back) in comparison to the dominant. Note here that /i/ can behave as a dominant or recessive vowel depending on the root it is in; it is not transparent to vowel harmony.{{sfn|Nelson|2013}}

==See also==
* [[A-mutation]]
* [[Ablaut reduplication]]
* [[Apophony]]
* [[Consonant harmony]]
* [[Consonant mutation]]
* [[Germanic umlaut]]
* [[I-mutation]]
* [[Metaphony]]
* [[U-mutation (disambiguation)|U-mutation]]<!--intentional link to DAB page-->
* [[Vowel-Consonant harmony]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==

* [http://personales.uniovi.es/web/ariasal/ Arias, Álvaro (2006): «La armonización vocálica en fonología funcional (de lo sintagmático en fonología a propósito de dos casos de metafonía hispánica)», ''Moenia'' 11: 111–139.]
* {{citation
|last=Delucchi
|first=Rachele
|year=2016
|title=Fonetica e fonologia dell'armonia vocalica. Esiti di -A nei dialetti della Svizzera italiana in prospettiva romanza
|volume=Romanica Helvetica 134
|publisher=Narr Francke Attempto Verlag
|location=Tübingen
|isbn=978-3-7720-8509-3
}}
* Downing, Laura J.; Krämer, Martin (2024). "[https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/58804/chapter-abstract/489195264?redirectedFrom=fulltext 20. Phrasal Vowel Harmony]". Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198826804.013.20. 
* Harrison, K. David (1999). [https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/88300672/Harrison-GLOW-1999-libre.pdf?1657064979=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DVowel_harmony_and_disharmony_in_Tuvan_an.pdf&Expires=1752347330&Signature=c6COsmdvRIihNXEY4R~ZObijO~AAaqne12YY1N1wJPbAF2va1XJDYH6g9PTRwMGPG62CM00mZX2N4fh7v66WIATv8qbgXQ6UA22ONsIRjLEQWeJrMQeh~bxebFvUYdcgbDDxpvr9SvObZEDrnwADkLL0Usy5lyEeA6z27fyXx2uCXwWE7os8NCpMY6Uj1ZFHXa8MdwVIXwisUmZknfTW-0o92nluCaHVxq7PNBcu5-iUvTsgALVA5VwQteucyh337B2ZcBEUHFdF9lqNJto1doC-ff~f2gWbGrJ~IUN34jAVIB9tHyz8hUxilgEmmbIMpJHujpzgo~EsmCHtwr9fOg__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA Vowel harmony and disharmony in Tuvan and Tofa].
* Harrison, K. David; Emily Thomforde, Michael O'Keefe (2004). [https://harmony.swarthmore.edu The Vowel Harmony Calculator].
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* Krämer, Martin. (2003). ''Vowel harmony and correspondence theory''. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
* Li, Bing. (1996). ''Tungusic vowel harmony: Description and analysis''. The Hague: Holland Academic Graphics.
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*Piggott, G. & van der Hulst, H. (1997). Locality and the nature of nasal harmony. ''Lingua, 103'', 85-112.
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* Shahin, Kimary N. (2002). ''Postvelar harmony''. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Pub.
* Smith, Norval; & Harry van der Hulst (Eds.). (1988). ''Features, segmental structure and harmony processes'' (Pts. 1 & 2). Dordrecht: Foris. {{ISBN|90-6765-399-3}} (pt. 1), {{ISBN|90-6765-430-2}} (pt. 2 ) .
* Vago, Robert M. (Ed.). (1980). ''Issues in vowel harmony: Proceedings of the CUNY Linguistic Conference on Vowel Harmony, 14 May 1977''. Amsterdam: J. Benjamins.
* Vago, Robert M. (1994). Vowel harmony. In R. E. Asher (Ed.), ''The Encyclopedia of language and linguistics'' (pp.&nbsp;4954–4958). Oxford: Pergamon Press.
*Walker, R. L. (1998). ''Nasalization, Neutral Segments, and Opacity Effects'' (Doctoral dissertation). University of California, Santa Cruz.

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