Colognian phonology

This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

This article covers the

Historic precedent

versions are not considered.

There are slight pronunciation variations in Colognian which can be considered regional within the city,^[1] and some others seemingly more reflecting social status. The phonological impact of either is marginal.^[2]

Spelling of Colognian can follow several standards. Pronunciation variations are allowed to show as variant spellings in all of them. Because the spellings of single words may differ widely between systems, listing spellings in examples of phonological nature is not helpful. Thus, only IPA transcriptions are used here in examples.

Colognian is part of the

Moselle Franconian and Limburgish

. Local languages of all three groups are usually not understood at once by Colognian speakers, but comparatively easily learned.

Other languages almost always spoken by Colognian speakers today are the

Mixed language use

is common today, so that in an average speakers awareness, Colognian lexemes are contrasting the two kinds of German ones as well.

Colognian has about 60 base phonemes and some 22 double consonants and diphthongs, depending on analysis.

Consonants

With about 25 phonemes, the Colognian consonant system exhibits an average number of consonants in comparison with other languages. Notable differences with the enveloping

High German affricate

/p͡f/. All Colognian consonants are pulmonic with the obvious exception of the glottal stop /ʔ/ which briefly interrupts the pulmonic air flow.

Consonant phonemes
		Labial	Alveolar	Post- alveolar		Palatal	Velar/ Uvular	Glottal
Nasal		m	n				ŋ
Stop	voiceless	p	t				k	ʔ
Stop	voiced	b	d				ɡ
Affricate	voiceless		t͡s	t͡ʃ
Affricate	voiced			d͡ʒ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ʃ	ɧ		x	h
Fricative	voiced	v	z	ʒ		ʝ~j	ʁ
Approximant		v	l			ʝ~j	ʁ

For a number of speakers, syllable-initial /v/ has a number of realizations in free variation: [β], [ʋ], and [w].
While Colognian has only one
ɫ]) or palatal ([ʎ]) variants are common in Colognian pronunciation. Arguably, [ʎ] is the most common. Retroflex ([ɭ]) or velar ([ʟ
]) variants are also possible.

The phoneme [
r], [ɾ] or [ʀ] instead of the Colognian /ʁ
/ in certain positions, or throughout. Though often closely related, Colognian speakers consider these foreign sounds.

Kölsch uses [ɧ], [ɕ] or even [ʃ] instead of [ç], that is used in Standard German, in words such as "ich".

The /ɡ/ phoneme is pronounced [j] in the beginning of a word, and [ʝ], [ʁ], [ʀ], or [x] in other word positions, depending on the syllable structure.[3]
/
liaison
:
- [ˈnɔx] ('anymore') → [ˈnɔxˌʔən] → [ˈnɔɣ‿ən] ('another one').
The phones [ʝ] and [j] are, for the most part, no longer distinguishable, though they were different phonemes in the past. Acoustic discrimination between [ʝ] and [j] appears nearly impossible.^{[citation needed]}^[4] Though transcribed distinctly by one group of authors,^[5] there appears to be only one possible minimal pair; both words are rarely used and usually synonymous anyway^{[citation needed]}^{[clarification needed]}:
- [ʝʊt͡ʃ] ('downpour'
  m.
  )
- [jʊt͡ʃ] ('willow reed'
  f.
  )
/
articulation generally differs. The Rheinische Dokumenta
writing system does not distinguish between them, others most usually do.
- The phoneme /ɧ/ exists only in the syllable coda^[7] It has the allophones [j], [ʝ], [ʒ] in certain positions occurring both with and without coarticulation. Whether the IPA symbol ⟨ɧ⟩ is a correct notation for the phone, is disputed.
- The phoneme /ʃ/ has the allophone [ʒ] in certain environmental and prosodic circumstances.

The

pharyngealized versions. The average Colognian [ʃ] is "darker" and often spoken with the lips more protruded than English versions. Since the audible difference may be small despite different articulations, foreigners often confuse it with the phone [ɧ

].

Terminal devoicing

Colognian, similar to

liaisons and coarticulations, only the unvoiced, or fortis, variant is pronounced. For example, the words [zik] ('side') and [ˈziɡə] ('sides') have a stem-final /ɡ/. Consequentially, according to the Kölsch Akadamie orthographic rules, they are written as ⟨Sigg⟩ and ⟨Sigge⟩, respectively,^[8] while the more phonetic common, and Wrede, spellings write ⟨Sick⟩ and ⟨Sigge⟩, respectively.^[9]

Initial voicing

For the phoneme /

phonotactic

rules when pronounced; for instance the English computerese term server appears as [ˈzɜːvɐ] or [ˈzœ²vɐ] in most instances, or even [ˈzɛʁfɐ] among elderly speakers, at least.

Vowels

	Front				Central	Back
	unrounded		rounded			Back
	short	long	short	long		short	long
Close	i	iː	y	yː		u	uː
Near-close	ɪ		ʏ			ʊ
Close-mid	e	eː	ø	øː	ə	o	oː
Open-mid	ɛ	ɛː	œ	œː	ɐ	ɔ	ɔː
Open					a aː

There are also two semivowels: [ɐ̯] and [ɔ̯], the latter of which is not phonemic.

Diphthongs are /aɪ, aːʊ, aʊ, eɪ, iɐ̯, oʊ, ɔʏ, øʏ/. /aːʊ/ only occurs with Stoßton.

Tone

Colognian and other

heavy syllables. Accent 1 is the marked

tone, while Accent 2 is the default. Accent 1 has a falling pitch in the city of Cologne, though the realizations of the two tones differ elsewhere.

The terminology for the two tones can be somewhat confusing. Following are the German and (in italics) Dutch terminology.[12]

Accent 1	Accent 2
Tonakzent 1 (T1)	Tonakzent 2 (T2)
Schärfung (+Schärfung)	(−Schärfung)
geschärft (+geschärft)	ungeschärft (−geschärft)
Stoßton	Schleifton
stoottoon	sleeptoon
hoge toon	valtoon
accent 1	accent 2

(Note that the Dutch hoge toon "high tone" and valtoon "falling tone" are descriptive only, and not consistent between varieties of Ripuarian. They would be misnomers for Colognian.)

Accent 1 (T1) can only occur on stressed, heavy syllables: that is, syllables with long vowels, diphthongs, or a short vowel followed by a sonorant (/m, n, ŋ, r, l/). Minimal pairs include T2 /ʃtiːf/ "stiff, rigid" vs. T1 /ʃtîːf/ "stiffness, rigidity; starch", /huːs/ "house (nom./acc.)" vs. /hûːs/ "house (dat.)", /ʃlɛːʃ/ "bad" vs. /ʃlɛ̂ːʃ/ "beats, blows, strikes (n. pl.)" with long vowels, /zei/ "she" vs. /zêi/ "sieve" with a diphthong, and /kan/ "(I/he) can" vs. /kân/ "(tea)pot, jug" with a short vowel plus sonorant.^[13]

Notes

^ Die meisten Kölner sind zweisprachig (Most Colognians are bilingual) – Talk of an unidentified Interviewer with Prof. Dr. Heribert A. Hilgers, in: Universität zu Köln, Mitteilungen 1975 (Communications of the University of Cologne 1975), issue 3/4, pages 19 and 20.
^ In fact, when researched, it was always proven submarginal. There is little reason to believe something else to be found in remaining fields.
^ Tiling-Herrwegen, Alice. 2002.
^ Heike?
^ Bhatt Tillig Herrwegen
^ Heike
^ Single foreign words can be seen as disputed exceptions. Colognian speakers pronounce both [ɧɪˈmiː] [ʃɪˈmiː] for 'chemistry'. Due to coarticulation, the difference is small anyway. The second pronunciation is an adaption to Colognian phonology. Whether the first is only owed to coarticulation, and should not be seen as phonemic, is unknown.
^ Bhatt-Herrwegen ...
^ Prof. Adam Wreede: ... vol 3, page 93, left column, ³Sick
^ Wrede: volume 3, page 327, right column
^ Wrede: volume 3, page 323, left column, Zortier and zorteere
^ cf. the second section of de:Rheinische Schärfung and the first of nl:Stoottoon en sleeptoon
^ Heike (1964:52)

[1] Die meisten Kölner sind zweisprachig (Most Colognians are bilingual) – Talk of an unidentified Interviewer with Prof. Dr. Heribert A. Hilgers, in: Universität zu Köln, Mitteilungen 1975 (Communications of the University of Cologne 1975), issue 3/4, pages 19 and 20.

[2] In fact, when researched, it was always proven submarginal. There is little reason to believe something else to be found in remaining fields.

[3] Tiling-Herrwegen, Alice. 2002.

[4] Heike?

[5] Bhatt Tillig Herrwegen

[6] Heike

[7] Single foreign words can be seen as disputed exceptions. Colognian speakers pronounce both [ɧɪˈmiː] [ʃɪˈmiː] for 'chemistry'. Due to coarticulation, the difference is small anyway. The second pronunciation is an adaption to Colognian phonology. Whether the first is only owed to coarticulation, and should not be seen as phonemic, is unknown.

[8] Bhatt-Herrwegen ...

[9] Prof. Adam Wreede: ... vol 3, page 93, left column, ³Sick

[10] Wrede: volume 3, page 327, right column

[11] Wrede: volume 3, page 323, left column, Zortier and zorteere

[12] . the second section of de:Rheinische Schärfung and the first of nl:Stoottoon en sleeptoon

[13] Heike (1964:52)

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[9]

[13]