1. the phonetic process of changing a rounded vowel to an unrounded one
Usage: linguistics

Examples

• The unrounding of vowels is a common sound change in many languages.
• Historical unrounding explains why some related words have different vowel sounds.
• The linguist studied the unrounding process in Germanic languages.
• Unrounding occurred when the rounded front vowels became unrounded.
• This dialect shows evidence of vowel unrounding over time.