Ä

Etymology

 * For the origin of, see.
 * is from before certain consonants; from analogical umlaut of ; from  in some dialects; in Moselle Franconian from all cases where Ripuarian has  (see ); in eastern Moselle Franconian from.

Usage notes

 * In the Dutch-based spelling, short is always represented by  (see there). Long  is represented by  or.


 * Long ä may be doubled to ää in the following cases:
 * when it is followed by two or more consonants: ;
 * when the German cognate has two vowel letters: ;
 * when the German cognate has a consonant lost or not present in Central Franconian: ;
 * when the German cognate has a short vowel:.


 * is always represented by ä, never e.
 * may be represented by e or ä. The latter of these is used when the German cognate has ä or a. It may or may not be used in the following cases:
 * when the German cognate has another umlaut letter: ;
 * when the German cognate has er: ;
 * when there is a related word with a: (because of the variant );
 * when there is a special reason to specify that the vowel is, not : (because  suggests ).
 * may be represented by eu or äu. The latter of these is used when the German cognate has äu or au. It may or may not be used when there is a related word with au: (because of related ).

Etymology
and/or its origin,, in which the umlaut (two dots) were originally a lowercase e, first placed to the side and later on top of a/A to signify fronting of the vowel via Germanic umlaut. This letter was already used in the earliest known Finnish writings in the 16th century, where it in fraktur (blackletter) still clearly displayed the lowercase e (aͤ). Over time, its usage became more regular as the Finnish spelling did, and the e simplified into two vertical lines and then two dots, as in the other regions where the letter is used.

Usage notes
In case of technical restrictions, ä should be represented by a (not ae, as in German).

Etymology

 * From Alemannic, a representation of secondary umlaut . In Early Modern German, the letter spread to Central German, which did not have a special phoneme for secondary umlaut. Therefore, was seen there as a marker of umlaut as such, and was used analogously.


 * distinguished up to five stressed e-vowels:, , , , . Through open-syllable lengthening, mergers, and analogy, this system was not just reduced but entirely altered. 19th-century Standard German generally retained only one short vowel, but distinguished from . All long ⟨ä⟩s were by then usually pronounced , while ⟨e⟩ was  in some words,  in others. The choice between these, however, varied greatly from region to region, and was entirely absent in many Low German areas.  therefore (consistently but rather arbitrarily) restricted  to the spelling ⟨ä⟩ in his codification of stage and broadcasting German.

Pronunciation

 * The distinction between long and  is maintained in some regions, including Switzerland and most of western Germany. In many other regions the two are merged in normal speech, though speakers may nevertheless distinguish them in individual words (such as conditional forms of strong verbs, e.g., gäbe) and in enunciation. The monosyllabic pronunciation of the letter ⟨Ä⟩ itself may also be distinguished from that of ⟨E⟩, with the former pronounced  and the latter.
 * The distinction between long and  is maintained in some regions, including Switzerland and most of western Germany. In many other regions the two are merged in normal speech, though speakers may nevertheless distinguish them in individual words (such as conditional forms of strong verbs, e.g., gäbe) and in enunciation. The monosyllabic pronunciation of the letter ⟨Ä⟩ itself may also be distinguished from that of ⟨E⟩, with the former pronounced  and the latter.
 * The distinction between long and  is maintained in some regions, including Switzerland and most of western Germany. In many other regions the two are merged in normal speech, though speakers may nevertheless distinguish them in individual words (such as conditional forms of strong verbs, e.g., gäbe) and in enunciation. The monosyllabic pronunciation of the letter ⟨Ä⟩ itself may also be distinguished from that of ⟨E⟩, with the former pronounced  and the latter.
 * The distinction between long and  is maintained in some regions, including Switzerland and most of western Germany. In many other regions the two are merged in normal speech, though speakers may nevertheless distinguish them in individual words (such as conditional forms of strong verbs, e.g., gäbe) and in enunciation. The monosyllabic pronunciation of the letter ⟨Ä⟩ itself may also be distinguished from that of ⟨E⟩, with the former pronounced  and the latter.
 * The distinction between long and  is maintained in some regions, including Switzerland and most of western Germany. In many other regions the two are merged in normal speech, though speakers may nevertheless distinguish them in individual words (such as conditional forms of strong verbs, e.g., gäbe) and in enunciation. The monosyllabic pronunciation of the letter ⟨Ä⟩ itself may also be distinguished from that of ⟨E⟩, with the former pronounced  and the latter.

Usage notes

 * The short vowel is spelt  (rather than ) when it occurs as an umlaut in inflections. Otherwise its use is chiefly dependent on the spelling of the German cognate.  is used when the German word has one of a, ä, o, ö, thus e.g.,  and  . If no German cognate exists,  is used when there is a closely related Luxembourgish word with a.
 * The long vowel is always spelt . In native Luxembourgish words this sound occurs only before r as an allophone of . Elsewhere it must be interpreted as a distinct phoneme, which is restricted to borrowings.

Etymology 1
, with its corresponding pronunciation, which is still used by some speakers, however, the majority of speakers have vernacularized the pronunciation to a long close-mid vowel regardless of the initial pronunciation.

Letter

 * 1) Additional letter in Slovene common mostly in loanwords from German.

Usage notes
It is more common to use the name than to use this name.

Inflection

 * Overall more common


 * More common when with a definite adjective

Etymology 2
Letter with diaeresis  to signify centralization.

Etymology
. Originally a ligature of A and E. During the 16th century, the letter began to be written as an A with a lower case e on top ( and respectively). During the first decades of the 18th century, the use of umlaut (Ää) emerged.

Pronunciation

 * Letter name
 * Phoneme
 * Phoneme

Letter

 * 1) The second last letter of the Swedish alphabet, pronounced  when long,  when short,  when long and before r, and  when short and before r.