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Karl-Heinz Mottausch: Kabbeln –kibbeln – kubbeln. Lautsymbolischer Vokalwechsel im Deutschen

In addition to the vowel alternation /i/ – /a/ – /u/ as in /Binde/ – /Band/ – /Bund/, which has Indo-European origins, German has a similar vowel change in the expressive lexicon, referred to here as pseudo-ablaut, because there is no direct relationship to the Indo-European ablaut. It is based on sound symbolism. The combination /i/ – /a/ – /u/ can be found, but we also find /i/ – /u/, /a/ – /i/, and /a/ – /u/. The vocalic variation serves to express varying nuances; in most cases, on the basis of a base vowel that is still ascertainable. This will be demonstrated using approximately 70 cases. It turns out that such vowel alternations are not limited to German, but are common in other Germanic (and non-Germanic) languages. There are thus grounds for assuming that this phenomenon has a very old source, that is, in some cases an Indo-European origin.