What is "fronting"

Front \Front\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Fronted; p. pr. & vb. n. Fronting.]

1. To oppose face to face; to oppose directly; to meet in a hostile manner.

   You four shall front them in the narrow lane.
   --Shak.

2. To appear before; to meet.

   [Enid] daily fronted him In some fresh splendor.
   --Tennyson.

3. To face toward; to have the front toward; to confront; as, the house fronts the street.

   And then suddenly front the changed reality.
   --J. Morley.

4. To stand opposed or opposite to, or over against as, his house fronts the church.

5. To adorn in front; to supply a front to; as, to front a house with marble; to front a head with laurel.

   Yonder walls, that pertly front your town.
   --Shak.

n. 1 (context phonetics phonology English) A process whereby a vowel or a consonant is pronounced farther to the front of the vocal tract than some reference point. 2 (context phonology English) A phonological relationship where a front vowel is found in place of a relative back vowel in an inflected form of a word. 3 (context linguistics English) An analogous relationship between the vowel sounds in a dialect of a language relative to the language standard or an earlier form of the language. 4 (context syntax English) The movement of a word of phrase to nearer the beginning of a sentence or clause than it would usually appear, often for emphasis. May also occur as part of the standard syntax of particular constructions (e.g. wh-movement). vb. (present participle of front English)

Fronting may refer to:

• acting as the most prominent member of a group, as in the case of a lead singer
• posing as something one is not, for example in the case of one referred to as a wigger
• in insurance, issuing an insurance policy in a State but having 100% of the risk reinsured by other parties.
• in finance, acting as a legal front for another entity who may themselves not be permitted to interact directly with the other party due to otherwise existing regulatory restrictions.
• pronunciation of a sound further forward in the mouth; see:
  • Fronted (phonetics)
  • Front and back
  • Front vowel
• movement of a grammatical component to the start of a clause; see:
  • wh-fronting

In phonology, fronting is a sound change in which a vowel or consonant becomes fronted, advanced or pronounced farther to the front of the vocal tract than some reference point. Fronting may be triggered by a nearby sound, in which case it is a form of assimilation, or may occur on its own. In general, a front vowel is pronouned in the front of the vocal tract.

In i-mutation and Germanic umlaut, a back vowel is fronted because of a following or . This is assimilation.

In many dialects of English, the vowel is fronted to or . This sound change also occurred in many dialects of Norwegian and Standard Swedish, but not in Danish.

In the Attic and Ionic dialects of Ancient Greek, Proto-Greek close back were fronted to . This change occurred in all cases and was not triggered by a nearby front consonant or vowel.

In Old English and Old Frisian, the back vowels were fronted to in certain cases. For more information, see .

Palatalization frequently involves fronting.