Standard German phonology

The phonology of Standard German is the standard pronunciation or accent of the German language. It deals with current phonology and phonetics as well as with historical developments thereof as well as the geographical variants and the influence of German dialects.

While the spelling of German is officially standardised by an international organisation (the Council for German Orthography) the pronunciation has no official standard and relies on a de facto standard documented in reference works such as Deutsches Aussprachewörterbuch (German Pronunciation Dictionary) by Eva-Maria Krech et al.,^[1] Duden 6 Das Aussprachewörterbuch (Duden volume 6, The Pronunciation Dictionary) by Max Mangold and the training materials of radio and television stations such as Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Deutschlandfunk, or Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen. This standardised pronunciation was invented, rather than coming from any particular German-speaking city. But the pronunciation that Germans usually consider to be closest to the standard is that of Hanover.^[2][3][4][5] Standard German is sometimes referred to as Bühnendeutsch (stage German), but the latter has its own definition and is slightly different.^[6]

Vowels

Monophthongs

Some scholars^[7] treat /ə/ as an unstressed allophone of /ɛ/. Likewise, some scholars^[7] treat /ɐ/ as an allophone of the sequence /ər/ or as a vocalized variant of /r/. The phonemic status of /ɛː/ is also debated – see below.

Notes

• Close vowels
  • /iː/ is close front unrounded [iː].^[8][9][10]
  • /yː/ is close near-front rounded [y̠ː].^[8][9][10]
  • /uː/ is close back rounded [uː].^[8][9][10]
  • /ɪ/ has been variously described as near-close front unrounded [ɪ̟]^[10] and near-close near-front unrounded [ɪ].^[8][9]
  • /ʏ/ is near-close near-front rounded [ʏ].^[8][9][10]
  • /ʊ/ is near-close near-back rounded [ʊ].^[8][9][10]
• Mid vowels
  • /eː/ is close-mid front unrounded [eː].^[8][9][10]
    • In non-standard accents of the Low German speaking area, as well as in some Bavarian and Austrian accents it may be pronounced as a narrow closing diphthong [eɪ].
  • /øː/ has been variously described as close-mid near-front rounded [ø̠ː]^[9][10] and mid near-front rounded [ø̽ː].^[8]
    • In non-standard accents of the Low German speaking area, as well as in some Austrian accents it may be pronounced as a narrow closing diphthong [øʏ].
  • /oː/ is close-mid back rounded [oː].^[8][9][10]
    • In non-standard accents of the Low German speaking area, as well as in some Austrian accents it may be pronounced as a narrow closing diphthong [oʊ].
  • /ə/ has been variously described as mid central unrounded [
    syllable coda, the schwa often disappears so that the sonorant becomes syllabic, for instance Kissen [ˈkɪsn̩] ('pillow'), Esel [ˈeːzl̩] ('donkey'). However, Standard German spoken in Luxembourg often lacks syllabic sonorants under the influence of Luxembourgish, so that e.g. setzen ('put') is pronounced [ˈzɛtsən], rather than [ˈzɛtsn̩].^[12][13]
  • /ɛ/ has been variously described as mid near-front unrounded [ɛ̽]^[9] and open-mid front unrounded [ɛ].^[8][10]
  • /ɛː/ has been variously described as mid front unrounded [ɛ̝ː]^[8] and open-mid front unrounded [ɛː].^[8][9]
  • /œ/ has been variously described as open-mid near-front rounded [œ̠]^[10] and somewhat lowered open-mid near-front rounded [œ̠˕].^[8][9]
  • /ɔ/ has been variously described as somewhat fronted open-mid back rounded [ɔ̟]^[9][10] and open-mid back rounded [ɔ].^[8]
• Open vowels
  • /ɐ/ is near-open central unrounded [ɐ].^[8][14] It is a common allophone of the sequence /ər/ common to all German-speaking areas but Switzerland. As schwa /ə/ is never pronounced here, it may be more appropriate to interpret [ɐ] as the vocalised allophone of the consonant /r/.
  • /a/ has been variously described as open front unrounded [a]^[15] and open central unrounded [ä].^{[8][9][10][16][17]} Some scholars^[18] differentiate two short /a/, namely front /a/ and back /ɑ/.^[19] The latter occurs only in unstressed open syllables, exactly as /i, y, u, e, ø, o/.^[20]
    • Standard Austrian pronunciation of this vowel is back [ɑ].^[21]
    • Front [a] or even [æ] is a common realization of /a/ in northern German varieties influenced by Low German.
  • /aː/ has been variously described as open central unrounded [äː]^{[8][9][10][16][17]} and open back unrounded [ɑː].^[22] Because of this, it is sometimes transcribed /ɑː/.^[23]
    • Back [ɑː] is the Standard Austrian pronunciation.^[21] It is also a common realization of /aː/ in northern German varieties influenced by Low German (in which it may even be rounded [ɒː]).
  • a play
    by Schiller into the Italian language, to render the distinctly German name Roller as Rolla.)

Although there is also a

The long open-mid front unrounded vowel [ɛː] does not exist in many varieties of Standard German and is rendered as the close-mid front unrounded vowel [eː], so that both Ähre ('ear of grain') and Ehre ('honor') are pronounced [ˈeːʁə] (instead of "Ähre" being [ˈɛːʁə]) and both Bären ('bears') and Beeren ('berries') are pronounced [ˈbeːʁən] (instead of Bären being [ˈbɛːʁən]). However, the disputed vowel [ɛː] seems much more stable in other contexts, i.e., not preceding /r/ as in the examples above. Other relevant minimal pairs include beten ('pray') – bäten ('bid, conjunctive'), dehnen ('stretch') – Dänen ('Danes'), Segen ('blessing') – Sägen ('saws, n.'). It has been debated whether [ɛː] is a distinct phoneme or even exists, except when consciously self-censoring speech,^[25] for several reasons:

1. The existence of a phoneme /ɛː/ is an irregularity in a vowel system that otherwise has pairs of long and tense vs. short and lax vowels such as [oː] vs. [ɔ]. On the other hand, such irregularities are not ruled out by any principle.
2. Although some dialects (e.g. Ripuarian and some Alemannic dialects) have an opposition of [eː] vs. [ɛː], there is little agreement across dialects as to whether individual lexical items should be pronounced with [eː] or with [ɛː]. E.g. South Hessian dialects have /eː/ in Käse but /ɛː/ in Leben.^[26]
3. The use of [ɛː] is a spelling pronunciation rather than an original feature of the language.^[25] It is an attempt to "speak as printed" (sprechen wie gedruckt) and to differentiate the spellings ⟨e⟩ and ⟨ä⟩ (i.e. speakers attempt to justify the appearance of ⟨e⟩ and ⟨ä⟩ in writing by making them distinct in the spoken language).
4. Speakers with an otherwise fairly standard idiolect find it rather difficult to utter longer passages with [eː] and [ɛː] in the right places. Such persons apparently have to picture the spellings of the words in question, which impedes the flow of speech.^{[25][failed verification]} However, the examples above with a non-rhotic context for the disputed vowel distinction speak against this view.

Diphthongs

Phonemic

• /aɪ̯/ has been variously described as [äɪ],^[8][27] [äe̠]^[28] and [aɛ].^[29]
• /aʊ̯/ has been variously described as [äʊ],^[27] [äʊ̞],^[8] [äo̟]^[28] and [aɔ].^[30]
• /ɔɪ̯/ has been variously described as [ɔʏ],^[27] [ɔʏ̞],^[8] [ɔ̝e̠]^[28] and [ɔœ].^[31]
• /ʊɪ̯/ is found only in a handful of interjections such as pfui [pfʊɪ̯] and hui [hʊɪ̯], and as an alternative to disyllabic [uː.ɪ] in words such as ruhig [ʁʊɪ̯ç].^[32][33]

Phonetic

The following usually are not counted among the German diphthongs as German speakers often feel they are distinct marks of "foreign words" (Fremdwörter). These appear only in loanwords:

• [o̯a], as in Croissant [kʁ̥o̯aˈsɑ̃], colloquially: [kʁ̥o̯aˈsaŋ].
• Many German speakers use [ɛɪ̯] and [ɔʊ̯] as adaptations of the English diphthongs /eɪ/ and /oʊ/ in English loanwords, according to Wiese (1996), or they replace them with the native German long vowels /eː/ and /oː/. Thus, the word okay may be pronounced [ɔʊ̯ˈkɛɪ̯] or /oːˈkeː/.^[34] However, Mangold (2005) and Krech et al. (2009) do not recognize these diphthongs as phonemes, and prescribe pronunciations with the long vowels /eː/ and /oː/ instead.

In the varieties where speakers vocalize /r/ to [ɐ] in the syllable coda, a diphthong ending in [ɐ̯] may be formed with every stressable vowel:

^1 Wiese (1996) notes that the length contrast is not very stable before non-prevocalic /r/^[35] and that "Meinhold & Stock (1980:180), following the pronouncing dictionaries (Mangold (1990), Krech & Stötzer (1982)) judge the vowel in Art, Schwert, Fahrt to be long, while the vowel in Ort, Furcht, hart is supposed to be short. The factual basis of this presumed distinction seems very questionable."^[35][36] He goes on stating that in his own dialect, there is no length difference in these words, and that judgements on vowel length in front of non-prevocalic /r/ which is itself vocalized are problematic, in particular if /a/ precedes.^[35]

According to the "lengthless" analysis, the aforementioned "long" diphthongs are analyzed as [iɐ̯], [yɐ̯], [uɐ̯], [ɛɐ̯], [eɐ̯], [øɐ̯], [oɐ̯] and [aɐ̯]. This makes non-prevocalic /ar/ and /aːr/ homophonous as [aɐ̯] or [aː]. Non-prevocalic /ɛr/ and /ɛːr/ may also merge, but the vowel chart in

mid-centralized open-mid front [ɛ̽] for the former, open-mid front [ɛ] for the latter.^[14]

Wiese (1996) also states that "laxing of the vowel is predicted to take place in shortened vowels; it does indeed seem to go hand in hand with the vowel shortening in many cases."^[35] This leads to [iɐ̯], [yɐ̯], [uɐ̯], [eɐ̯], [øɐ̯], [oɐ̯] being pronounced the same as [ɪɐ̯], [ʏɐ̯], [ʊɐ̯], [ɛɐ̯], [œɐ̯], [ɔɐ̯]. This merger is usual in the Standard Austrian accent, in which e.g. Moor 'bog' is often pronounced [mɔɐ̯]; this, in contrast with the Standard Northern variety, also happens intervocalically, along with the diphthongization of the laxed vowel to [Vɐ̯], so that e.g. Lehrer 'teacher' is pronounced [ˈlɛɐ̯ʁɐ]^[37] (the corresponding Standard Northern pronunciation is [ˈleːʁɐ]). Another feature of the Standard Austrian accent is complete absorption of [ɐ̯] by the preceding /ɑ, ɑː/, so that e.g. rar 'scarce' is pronounced [ʁɑː].^[37]

Consonants

With around 22 to 26 phonemes, the German consonant system has an average number of consonants in comparison with other languages. One of the more noteworthy ones is the unusual

• /r/ can be uvular, alveolar or even dental, a consonant or a semivowel, see below.
• /pf/ is bilabial–labiodental [pf], rather than purely labiodental [p̪f].[39]
• /t, d, l, n/ can be
  n̪].^{[40][46][47][48]} The other possible pronunciation of /d/ that has been reported to occur in unstressed intervocalic positions is retroflex [ɖ].^[49]
  Austrian German often uses the laminal denti-alveolar articulation.
  • /l/ is always
    velarized [ɫ]
    instead, but that is considered non-standard.
• In the Standard Austrian variety, /k/ may be affricated to [kx] before front vowels.^[50]
• /ts, s, z/ can be laminal alveolar [
  z̺].^[51][52][53] Austrian German often uses the post-dental articulation. /s, z/ are always strongly fricated.^[54]
• /tʃ, dʒ, ʃ, ʒ/ are strongly labialized palato-alveolar sibilants [tʃʷ, dʒʷ, ʃʷ, ʒʷ].^[55][56][57] /ʃ, ʒ/ are fricated more weakly than /s, z/.^[58] There are two variants of these sounds:
  • Laminal,^[55][57] articulated with the foremost part of the blade of the tongue approaching the foremost part of the hard palate, with the tip of the tongue resting behind either upper or lower front teeth.^[55]
  • Apico-laminal,^[55][56][57] articulated with the tip of the tongue approaching the gums and the foremost part of the blade approaching the foremost part of the hard palate.^[55] According to Morciniec & Prędota (2005), this variant is used more frequently.^[57]
• /r/ has a number of possible realizations:
  • Voiced apical coronal trill [
    r̺],^[59][60][61] either alveolar (articulated with the tip of the tongue against the alveolar ridge),^[59][60][61] or dental (articulated with the tip of the tongue against the back of the upper front teeth).^[59]
    • Distribution: Common in the south (Bavaria and many parts of Switzerland and Austria), but it is also found in some speakers in central and northern Germany, especially the elderly. It is also one of possible realizations of /r/ in the Standard Austrian accent, but a more common alveolar realization is an approximant [
      ɹ]. Even more common are uvular realizations, fricatives [ʁ ~ χ] and a trill [ʀ].^[62]
  • Voiced uvular trill [
    flap [ʀ̆] intervocalically (as in Ehre).^[65]
    • Distribution: Occurs in some conservative varieties—most speakers with a uvular /r/ realize it as a fricative or an approximant.[66] It is also one of possible realizations of /r/ in the Standard Austrian accent, but it is less common than a fricative [ʁ ~ χ].^[62]
  • Dorsal continuant, about the quality of which there is not a complete agreement:
    • Krech et al. (2009) describe two fricative variants, namely post-palatal [ɣ˖] and velar [ɣ]. The post-palatal variant appears before and after front vowels, while the velar variant is used in all other positions.^[67]
    • Morciniec & Prędota (2005) describe it as voiced post-velar fricative [ʁ̟].^[68]
    • Mangold (2005) and Kohler (1999) describe it as voiced uvular fricative [ʁ];^[59][69]
      • Mangold (2005) states that "with educated professional radio and TV announcers, as with professional actors on the stage and in film, the [voiced uvular] fricative [realization of] /r/ clearly predominates."^[59]
        • In the Standard Austrian accent, the uvular fricative is also the most common realization, although its voicing is variable (that is, it can be either voiced [ʁ] or voiceless [χ]).^[62]
      • Kohler (1999) writes that "the place of articulation of the consonant varies from uvular in e.g. rot ('red') to velar in e.g. treten ('kick'), depending on back or front vowel contexts." He also notes that [ʁ] is devoiced after voiceless plosives and fricatives, especially those within the same word, giving the word treten as an example. According to this author, [ʁ] can be reduced to an approximant in an intervocalic position.^[70]
    • Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996) describe it as a uvular fricative [ʁ] or approximant [ʁ̞]. The latter is less likely to occur word-initially.^[71]
    • Distribution: Almost all areas apart from Bavaria and parts of Switzerland.
  • Near-open central unrounded vowel [ɐ] is a post-vocalic allophone of (mostly dorsal) varieties of /r/. The non-syllabic variant of it is not always near-open or central; it is similar to either [ɑ] or [ə], depending on the environment.^[68]
    • Distribution: Widespread, but less common in Switzerland.
  • Retroflex approximant [ɻ⁠] realized like the r in Standard American English.
    • Distrubution: Middle Hessian between the Wetterau region and the Westerwald^[72] and the Higher Lusatia.
• The voiceless stops /
  aspirated except when preceded by a sibilant. Many southern dialects do not aspirate /p t k/, and some northern ones do so only in a stressed position. The voiceless affricates /pf/, /ts/, and /tʃ/ are never aspirated,^[73] and neither are any other consonants besides the aforementioned /p, t, k/.^[73]
• The obstruents /b, d, ɡ, z, ʒ, dʒ/ are voiceless lenis consonants [b̥, d̥, ɡ̊, z̥, ʒ̊, d̥ʒ̊] in southern varieties. Voiceless lenis consonants [b̥, d̥, ɡ̊, z̥] continue to contrast with voiceless fortis consonants [p, t, k, s]. The section § Fortis–lenis pairs covers the issue in more detail.
• In Austria,
  intervocalic /b, d, ɡ/ can be lenited to fricatives [β, ð, ɣ].^[50][74]
• Before and after front vowels (/ɪ, iː, ʏ, yː, ɛ, ɛː, eː, œ, øː/ and, in varieties that realize them as front, /a/ and/or /aː/), the velar consonants /ŋ, k, ɡ/ are realized as post-palatal [
  ɡ˗] or even uvular [q, ɢ].^[75]
• There is no complete agreement about the nature of /j/; it has been variously described as:
  • a fricative [ʝ],^[77][78][79]
  • a fricative which can be fricated less strongly than [ç],^[80]
  • a sound variable between a weak fricative and an approximant,^[81] and
  • an approximant [j],^[69][82] which is the usual realization in the Standard Austrian variety.^[82]
• In many varieties of standard German, the glottal stop, [ʔ], occurs in careful speech before word stems that begin with a vowel and before stressed vowels word-internally, as in Oase [ʔo.ʔaː.zə] (twice). It is much more frequent in northern varieties than in the south. It is not usually considered a phoneme. In colloquial and dialectal speech, [ʔ] is often omitted, especially when the word beginning with a vowel is unstressed.
• The phonemic status of affricates is controversial. The majority view accepts /pf/ and /ts/, but not /tʃ/ or the non-native /dʒ/; some^[83] accept none, some accept all but /dʒ/, and some^[84] accept all.
  • Although [
    toponyms of non-Germanic origin (e.g. Zschopau
    ).
  • [dʒ] and [ʒ] occur only in words of foreign origin. In certain varieties, they are replaced by [tʃ] and [ʃ] altogether.
• [ʋ] is occasionally considered to be an allophone of /v/, especially in southern varieties of German.
• [ç] and [x] are traditionally regarded as allophones after front vowels and back vowels, respectively. For a more detailed analysis see below at ich-Laut and ach-Laut. According to some analyses, [χ] is an allophone of /ç/ after /a, aː/ and according to some also after /ʊ, ɔ, aʊ̯/.^[14][50] However, according to Moosmüller, Schmid & Brandstätter (2015), the uvular allophone is used after /ɔ/ only in the Standard Austrian variety.^[50]
• Some phonologists do not posit a separate phoneme /ŋ/ and use /nɡ/ instead,^[85] along with /nk/ instead of /ŋk/. The phoneme sequence /nɡ/ is realized as [ŋɡ] when /ɡ/ can start a valid onset of the next syllable whose nucleus is a vowel other than unstressed /ə/, /ɪ/, or /ʊ/. It becomes [ŋ] otherwise.^[86] For example:
  • Diphthong /dɪfˈtɔnɡ/ [dɪfˈtɔŋ]
  • diphthongieren /dɪftɔnˈɡiːʁən/ [ˌdɪftɔŋˈɡiːʁən]
  • Englisch /ˈɛnɡlɪʃ/ [ˈɛŋlɪʃ]
  • Anglo /ˈanɡloː/ [ˈaŋɡloː]
  • Ganges /ˈɡanɡəs/ [ˈɡaŋəs] ~ /ˈɡanɡɛs/ [ˈɡaŋɡɛs]

Ich-Laut and ach-Laut

Ich-Laut is the voiceless palatal fricative [ç] (which is found in the word ich [ɪç] 'I'), and ach-Laut is the voiceless velar fricative [x] (which is found in the word ach [ax] the interjection 'oh', 'alas'). Laut [laʊ̯t] is the German word for 'sound, phone'. In German, these two sounds are allophones occurring in complementary distribution. The allophone [x] occurs after back vowels and /a aː/ (for instance in Buch [buːx] 'book'), the allophone [ç] after front vowels (for instance in mich [mɪç] 'me/myself') and consonants (for instance in Furcht [fʊʁçt] 'fear', manchmal [ˈmançmaːl] 'sometimes'). The allophone [ç] also appears after vocalized ⟨r⟩ in superregional variants, e.g. in Furcht [fʊɐ̯çt] 'fear'. In southeastern regiolects, the ach-Laut is commonly used here, yielding [fʊɐ̯xt].

In

According to Kohler,[88] the German ach-Laut is further differentiated into two allophones, [x] and [χ]: [x] occurs after /uː, oː/ (for instance in Buch [buːx] 'book') and [χ] after /a, aː/ (for instance in Bach [baχ] 'brook'), while either [x] or [χ] may occur after /ʊ, ɔ, aʊ̯/, with [χ] predominating.

In Western varieties, there is a strong tendency to realize /ç/ as unrounded [ʃ] or [ɕ], and the phoneme may be confused or merged with /ʃ/ altogether, secondarily leading to hypercorrection effects where /ʃ/ is replaced with /ç/, for instance in Fisch [fɪʃ], which may be realized as [fɪç].

Within German dialects, a large variation exists as to the environments which trigger or prevent one realization or the other.^[89]

Fortis–lenis pairs

Various German consonants occur in pairs at the same place of articulation and in the same manner of articulation, namely the pairs /p–b/, /t–d/, /k–ɡ/, /s–z/, /ʃ–ʒ/. These pairs are often called fortis–lenis pairs, since describing them as voiced–voiceless pairs is inadequate. With certain qualifications, /tʃ–dʒ/, /f–v/ and /θ–ð/ are also considered fortis–lenis pairs.

Fortis-lenis distinction for /ʔ, m, n, ŋ, l, r, h/ is unimportant.^[90]

The fortis stops /p, t, k/ are

The lenis consonants /b, d, ɡ, v, ð, z, ʒ, j, r, dʒ/[90] range from being weakly voiced to almost voiceless [b̥, d̥, ɡ̊, v̥, ð̥, z̥, ʒ̊, j̥, r̥, d̥ʒ̊] after voiceless consonants:^[91] Kasbah [ˈkasb̥a] ('kasbah'), abdanken [ˈapd̥aŋkn̩] ('to resign'), rotgelb [ˈʁoːtɡ̊ɛlp] ('red-yellow'), Abwurf [ˈapv̥ʊʁf] ('dropping'), Absicht [ˈapz̥ɪçt] ('intention'), Holzjalousie [ˈhɔltsʒ̊aluziː] ('wooden jalousie'), wegjagen [ˈvɛkj̥aːɡn̩] ('to chase away'), tropfen [ˈtʁ̥ɔpfn̩] ('to drop'), Obstjuice [ˈoːpstd̥ʒ̊uːs] ('fruit juice'). Mangold (2005) states that they are "to a large extent voiced" [b, d, ɡ, v, ð, z, ʒ, j, r, dʒ] in all other environments,^[90] but some studies have found the stops /b, d, ɡ/ to be voiceless word/utterance-initially in most dialects (while still contrasting with /p, t, k/ due to the aspiration of the latter).^[92]

/b, d, ɡ, z, ʒ/ are voiceless in most southern varieties of German. For clarity, they are often transcribed as [b̥, d̥, ɡ̊, z̥, ʒ̊].

The nature of the phonetic difference between the voiceless lenis consonants and the similarly voiceless fortis consonants is controversial. It is generally described as a difference in articulatory force, and occasionally as a difference in articulatory length; for the most part, it is assumed that one of these characteristics implies the other.

In various central and southern varieties, the opposition between fortis and lenis is neutralized in the

The pair /f–v/ is not considered a fortis–lenis pair, but a simple voiceless–voiced pair, as /

Since the lenis stops /b, d, ɡ/ are unvoiced or at most variably voiced (as stated above), this cannot be called devoicing in the strict sense of the word because it does not involve the loss of phonetic voice.^[95] More accurately, it can be called coda fortition or a neutralization of fortis and lenis sounds in the coda. Fricatives are truly and contrastively voiced in Northern Germany.^[96] Therefore, the fricatives undergo coda devoicing in the strict sense of the word.^[95] It is disputed whether coda devoicing is due to a constraint which specifically operates on syllable codas or whether it arises from constraints which "protect voicing in privileged positions".^[97]

Coda voicing

As against standard pronunciation rules, in western varieties including those of the Rhineland, coda fortis–lenis neutralization results in voicing rather than devoicing if the following word begins with a vowel. For example, mit uns becomes [mɪd‿ʊns] and darf ich becomes [daʁv‿ɪʃ]. The same sandhi phenomenon exists also as a general rule in the Luxembourgish language.^[98]

Stress

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

In German words there is always one syllable carrying main stress, with all other syllables either being unstressed or carrying a secondary stress. The position of the main stress syllable has been a matter of debate. Traditionally, word stress is seen as falling onto the first stem syllable. In recent analyses, there is agreement that main stress is placed onto one of the last three (stressable) syllables. Within this three-syllable window,^[99] word stress is put regularly onto the second-to-last syllable, the penultimate syllable.^[100] However, syllable quantity may modify this pattern: a heavy final or prefinal syllable, i.e., one with a long vowel or with one or more consonants in the syllable coda, will usually attract main stress.

Examples

• final stress: Eleˈfant, Krokoˈdil, Kaˈmel
• penultimate stress: ˈTurban, ˈKonsul, ˈBison
• antepenultimate stress: ˈPinguin, ˈRisiko, ˈMonitor

A set of illustrative examples also stems from Japanese loan words, as these cannot be borrowed with their stress patterns (Japanese has a system of pitch accents, completely different from word stress in Germanic languages):

• final stress: Shoˈgun, Samuˈrai
• penultimate stress: Mitsuˈbishi, Ikeˈbana
• antepenultimate stress: Hiˈroshima, ˈOsaka

A list of Japanese words in German reveals that none of the words with four syllables has initial stress, confirming the three-syllable-window analysis.

Secondary stresses precede the main stress if at least two syllables are present, as in ̩Bib-li- ̩o-the-'ka-rin.

Suffixes, if containing a stressable vowel, are either stressed (-ei, ion, -al, etc.) or unstressed (-ung, -heit, -isch, etc.)

In addition, German uses different stresses for separable prefixes and inseparable prefixes in verbs and words derived from such verbs:

• Words beginning with be-, ge-, er-, ver-, zer-, ent-, emp- and a few other inseparable prefixes are stressed on the root.
• Words beginning with the separable prefixes ab-, auf-, ein-, vor-, and most prepositional adverbs are stressed on the prefix.
• Some prefixes, notably über-, unter-, um-, and durch-, can function as separable or inseparable prefixes and are stressed or not accordingly.
• A few homographs with such prefixes exist. They are not perfect homophones. Consider the word umschreiben. As ˈum•schreiben (separable prefix), it means 'to rewrite' and is pronounced [ˈʊmʃʀaɪ̯bən], with stress on the first syllable. Its associated noun, die ˈUmschreibung is also stressed on the first syllable – [ˈʊmʃʀaɪ̯bʊŋ]. On the other hand, umˈschreiben (inseparable prefix) is pronounced [ʊmˈʃʀaɪ̯bən], with stress on the second syllable. This word means 'to paraphrase', and its associated noun, die Umˈschreibung is also stressed on the second syllable – [ʊmˈʃʀaɪ̯bʊŋ]. Another example is the word umˈfahren; with stress on the root ([ʊmˈfaːʀən]) it means 'to drive around (an obstacle in the street)', and with stress on the prefix ([ˈʊmfaːʀən]) it means 'to run down/over' or 'to knock down'.

Acquisition

General

Like all infants, German infants go through a

Many speakers do not distinguish the affricate /pf/ from the simple fricative /f/ in the beginning of a word,^[116] in which case the verb (er) fährt ('[he] travels') and the noun Pferd ('horse') are both pronounced [fɛɐ̯t]. This most commonly occurs in northern and western Germany, where the local dialects did not originally have the sound /pf/. Some speakers also have peculiar pronunciation for /pf/ in the middle or end of a word, replacing the [f] in /pf/ with a voiceless bilabial fricative, i.e. a consonant produced by pressing air flow through the tensed lips. Thereby Tropfen ('drop') becomes [ˈtʁ̥ɔpɸn̩], rather than [ˈtʁ̥ɔpfn̩].

Many speakers who have a vocalization of /r/ after /a/ merge this combination with long /aː/ (i.e. /ar/ > *[aɐ] or *[ɑɐ] > [aː] or [ɑː]). Hereby, Schaf ('sheep') and scharf ('sharp') can both be pronounced [ʃaːf] or [ʃɑːf]. This merger does not occur where /a/ is a front vowel while /aː/ is realised as a back vowel. Here the words are kept distinct as [ʃɑːf] ('sheep') and [ʃaːf] ('sharp').

In umlaut forms, the difference usually reoccurs: Schäfer [ˈʃɛːfɐ] or [ˈʃeːfɐ] vs. schärfer [ˈʃɛɐ̯fɐ]. Speakers with this merger also often use [aːç] (instead of formally normal /aːx/) where it stems from original [arç]. The word Archen ('arks') is thus pronounced [ˈaːçn̩], which makes a minimal pair with

, for these speakers.

In the standard pronunciation, the vowel qualities /i/, /ɪ/, /e/, /ɛ/, as well as /u/, /ʊ/, /o/, /ɔ/, are all still distinguished even in unstressed syllables. In this latter case, however, many simplify the system in various degrees. For some speakers, this may go so far as to merge all four into one, hence misspellings by schoolchildren such as Bräutegam (instead of Bräutigam) or Portogal (instead of Portugal).

In everyday speech, more

mergers

occur, some of which are universal and some of which are typical for certain regions or dialect backgrounds. Overall, there is a strong tendency of reduction and contraction. For example, long vowels may be shortened, consonant clusters may be simplified, word-final [ə] may be dropped in some cases, and the suffix -en may be contracted with preceding consonants, e.g. [ham] for haben [ˈhaːbən] ('to have').

If the clusters [mp], [lt], [nt], or [ŋk] are followed by another consonant, the stops /p/, /t/ and /k/ usually lose their phonemic status. Thus while the standard pronunciation distinguishes ganz [ɡants] ('whole') from Gans [ɡans] ('goose'), as well as er sinkt [zɪŋkt] from er singt [zɪŋt], the two pairs are homophones for most speakers. The commonest practice is to drop the stop (thus [ɡans], [zɪŋt] for both words), but some speakers insert the stop where it is not etymological ([ɡants], [zɪŋkt] for both words), or they alternate between the two ways. Only a few speakers retain a phonemic distinction.

Middle High German

The

Colognian dialect has kept the original [ei] diphthong in heiß), Yiddish

הײס heys /hɛɪ̯s/ and װײַס vays /vaɪ̯s/.

The Middle High German diphthongs [iə̯], [uə̯] and [yə̯] became the modern Standard German long vowels [iː], [uː] and [yː] after the Middle High German long vowels changed to diphthongs. Most Upper German dialects retain the diphthongs. A remnant of their former diphthong character is shown when [iː] continues to be written ie in German (as in Liebe 'love').

Loanwords

German incorporates a significant number of loanwords from other languages. Loanwords are often adapted to German phonology but to varying degrees, depending on the speaker and the commonness of the word. /ʒ/ and /dʒ/ do not occur in native German words but are common in a number of French and English loan words. Many speakers replace them with /ʃ/ and /tʃ/ respectively (especially in Southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland), so that Dschungel (from English jungle) can be pronounced [ˈdʒʊŋl̩] or [ˈtʃʊŋl̩]. Some speakers in Northern and Western Germany merge /ʒ/ with /dʒ/, so that Journalist (phonemically /dʒʊʁnaˈlɪst ~ ʒʊʁnaˈlɪst/) can be pronounced [ʒʊɐ̯naˈlɪst], [dʒʊɐ̯naˈlɪst] or [ʃʊɐ̯naˈlɪst]. The realization of /ʒ/ as [tʃ], however, is uncommon.^[117]

Loanwords from English

Many English words are used in German, especially in technology and pop culture. Some speakers pronounce them similarly to their native pronunciation, but many speakers change non-native phonemes to similar German phonemes (even if they pronounce them in a rather English manner in an English-language setting):

• English /θ, ð/ are usually pronounced as in RP or General American; some speakers replace them with /s/ and /z/ respectively (
  th-alveolarization
  ) e.g. Thriller [ˈθʁɪlɐ ~ ˈsʁɪlɐ].
• English /ɹ/ can be pronounced the same as in English, i.e. [
  variably rhotic when using English loanwords.^{[citation needed}
  ]
• English /w/ is often replaced with German /v/ e.g. Whisk(e)y [ˈvɪskiː].
• word-initial /s/ is often retained (especially in the South, where word-initial /s/ is common),[118] but many speakers replace it with /z/ e.g. Sound [zaʊ̯nt].
• word-initial /st/ and /sp/ are usually retained, but some speakers (especially in South Western Germany and Western Austria) replace them with /ʃt/ and /ʃp/ e.g. Steak [ʃteɪk] or [ʃteːk], Spray [ʃpʁeɪ] or [ʃpʁeː].^[119]
• English /tʃ/ is usually retained, but in Northern and Western Germany as well as Luxembourg, it is often replaced with /ʃ/ e.g. Chips [ʃɪps].^[120]
• In Northern Standard German, final-obstruent devoicing is applied to English loan words just as to other words e.g. Airbag [ˈɛːɐ̯bɛk], Lord [lɔʁt] or [lɔɐ̯t], Backstage [ˈbɛksteːtʃ]. However, in Southern Standard German, in Swiss Standard German and Austrian Standard German, final-obstruent devoicing does not occur and so speakers are more likely to retain the original pronunciation of word-final lenes (although realizing them as fortes may occur because of confusing English spelling with pronunciation).
• English /eɪ/ and /oʊ/ are often replaced with /eː/ and /oː/ respectively e.g. Homepage [ˈhoːmpeːtʃ].
• English /æ/ and /ɛ/ are pronounced the same, as German /ɛ/ (
  met–mat merger
  ) e.g. Backup [ˈbɛkap].
• English /ɒ/ and /ɔː/ are pronounced the same, as German /ɔ/ (cot–caught merger) e.g. Box [bɔks].
• English /ʌ/ is usually pronounced as German /a/ e.g. Cutter [ˈkatɐ].
• English /ɜːr/ is usually pronounced as German /œʁ/ e.g. Shirt [ʃœʁt] or [ʃœɐ̯t].
• English /i/ is pronounced as /iː/ (
  happy-tensing
  ) e.g. Whisk(e)y [ˈvɪskiː].

Loanwords from French

French loanwords, once very numerous, have in part been replaced by native German coinages or more recently English loanwords. Besides /

n] or sometimes [m

] (in the south). For example, Ballon [baˈlõː] ('balloon') may be realized as [baˈlɔŋ] or [baˈloːn], Parfüm [paʁˈfœ̃ː] ('perfume') as [paʁˈfœŋ] or [paʁ'fyːm] and Orange [oˈʁãːʒə] ('orange') as [oˈʁaŋʒə] or [o'ʁanʒə].

Sample

The sample text is a reading of "The North Wind and the Sun". The phonemic transcription treats every instance of [ɐ] and [ɐ̯] as /ər/ and /r/, respectively. The phonetic transcription is a fairly narrow transcription of the educated northern accent. The speaker transcribed in the narrow transcription is 62 years old, and he is reading in a colloquial style.^[69] Aspiration, glottal stops and devoicing of the lenes after fortes are not transcribed.

The audio file contains the whole fable and was recorded by a much younger speaker.

Phonemic transcription

/aɪnst ˈʃtrɪtɛn zɪç ˈnɔrtvɪnt ʊnt ˈzɔnɛ | veːr fɔn ˈiːnɛn ˈbaɪdɛn voːl deːr ˈʃtɛrkɛrɛ ˈvɛːrɛ | als aɪn ˈvandɛrɛr | deːr ɪn ˈaɪnɛn ˈvarmɛn ˈmantɛl ɡɛˈhʏlt vaːr | dɛs ˈveːɡɛs daˈheːrˌkaːm ‖ ziː ˈvʊrdɛn ˈaɪnɪç | das ˈdeːrjeːnɪɡɛ fyːr deːn ˈʃtɛrkɛrɛn ˈɡɛltɛn ˈzɔltɛ | deːr deːn ˈvandɛrɛr ˈtsvɪŋɛn ˈvʏrdɛ | ˈzaɪnɛn ˈmantɛl ˈaptsuːˌneːmɛn ‖ deːr ˈnɔrtvɪnt bliːs mɪt ˈalɛr maçt | ˈaːbɛr jeː ˈmeːr eːr bliːs | ˈdɛstoː ˈfɛstɛr ˈhʏltɛ zɪç deːr ˈvandɛrɛr ɪn ˈzaɪnɛn ˈmantɛl aɪn ‖ ˈɛntlɪç ɡaːp deːr ˈnɔrtvɪnt deːn kampf aʊf ‖ nuːn ɛrˈvɛrmtɛ diː ˈzɔnɛ diː lʊft mɪt ˈiːrɛn ˈfrɔɪntlɪçɛn ˈʃtraːlɛn | ʊnt ʃoːn naːç ˈveːnɪɡɛn aʊɡɛnˈblɪkɛn tsoːk deːr ˈvandɛrɛr ˈzaɪnɛn ˈmantɛl aʊs ‖ daː ˈmʊstɛ deːr ˈnɔrtvɪnt ˈtsuːɡeːbɛn | das diː ˈzɔnɛ fɔn ˈiːnɛn ˈbaɪdɛn deːr ˈʃtɛrkɛrɛ vaːr/

The North Wind and the Sun

Traditional fable

---

Problems playing this file? See media help.

Phonetic transcription

[aɪns ˈʃtʁɪtn̩ zɪç ˈnɔɐ̯tvɪnt ʊntˈz̥ɔnə | veːɐ̯ fɔn ˈiːnː ˈbaɪdn̩ voːl deːɐ̯ ˈʃtɛɐ̯kəʁə ˈvɛːʁə | als aɪn ˈvandəʁɐ | deːɐ̯ ɪn ˈaɪnː ˈvaːɐ̯mn̩ ˈmantl̩ ɡəˈhʏlt vaːɐ̯ | dəs ˈveːɡəs daˈheːɐ̯kaːm ‖ ziː ˈvʊɐ̯dn̩ ˈaɪnɪç | das ˈdeːɐ̯jeːnɪɡə fʏɐ̯ deːn ˈʃtɛɐ̯kəʁən ˈɡɛltn̩ ˈzɔltə | deːɐ̯ deːn ˈvandəʁɐ ˈtsvɪŋ̍ ˈvʏɐ̯də | ˈzaɪnː ˈmantl̩ ˈaptsʊˌneːmː ‖ deːɐ̯ ˈnɔɐ̯tvɪnt bliːs mɪt ˈalɐ maxt | ˈaːbɐ jeˈmeːɐ̯ eːɐ̯ bliːs | ˈdɛsto ˈfɛstɐ ˈhʏltə zɪç deːɐ̯ ˈvandəʁɐ ɪn ˈzaɪnː ˈmantl̩ aɪn ‖ ˈɛntlɪç ɡaːp deːɐ̯ ˈnɔɐ̯tvɪnt deːn kampf aʊf ‖ nuːn ɛɐ̯ˈvɛɐ̯mtə diː ˈzɔnə diː lʊft mɪt ˈiːɐ̯n̩ ˈfʁɔɪntlɪçn̩ ˈʃtʁaːln̩ | ʊnt ʃoːnaːx ˈveːnɪɡŋ̍ aʊɡŋ̍ˈblɪkŋ̍ tsoːk deːɐ̯ ˈvandəʁɐ ˈzaɪnː ˈmantl̩ aʊs ‖ daː ˈmʊstə deːɐ̯ ˈnɔɐ̯tvɪnt ˈtsuːɡeːbm̩ | das diː ˈzɔnə fɔn ˈiːnː ˈbaɪdn̩ deːɐ̯ ˈʃtɛɐ̯kəʁə vaːɐ̯]^[121]

Orthographic version

Einst stritten sich Nordwind und Sonne, wer von ihnen beiden wohl der Stärkere wäre, als ein Wanderer, der in einen warmen Mantel gehüllt war, des Weges daherkam. Sie wurden einig, daß derjenige für den Stärkeren gelten sollte, der den Wanderer zwingen würde, seinen Mantel abzunehmen. Der Nordwind blies mit aller Macht, aber je mehr er blies, desto fester hüllte sich der Wanderer in seinen Mantel ein. Endlich gab der Nordwind den Kampf auf. Nun erwärmte die Sonne die Luft mit ihren freundlichen Strahlen, und schon nach wenigen Augenblicken zog der Wanderer seinen Mantel aus. Da mußte der Nordwind zugeben, daß die Sonne von ihnen beiden der Stärkere war.^[122]

See also

• German orthography

Notes

1. ^ Pages 1-2 of the book (Deutsches Aussprachewörterbuch) discuss die Standardaussprache, die Gegenstand dieses Wörterbuches ist (the standard pronunciation which is the topic of this dictionary). It also mentions Da sich das Deutsche zu einer plurizentrischen Sprache entwickelt hat, bildeten sich jeweils eigene Standardvarietäten (und damit Standardaussprachen) (German has developed into a pluricentric language separate standard varieties (and hence standard pronunciations)), but refers to these standards as regionale und soziolektale Varianten (regional and sociolectal variants).
2. ^ Drösser, Christoph (14 June 2000). "Angeblich sprechen die Hannoveraner das reinste - sprich dialektfreieste - Deutsch und kommen dem Hochdeutschen am nächsten. Stimmt's?". Die Zeit. Stimmt.
3. ^ "Reflections on Diglossia". In northern Germany, it appears that in Hanover – perhaps because of the presence of the electoral (later royal) court – a parastandard High German was spoken by the 18th century as well, at least among the educated, with the curious result that Hanover speech – though non-native – became the model of German pronunciation on the stage (Bühnendeutsch), since everywhere else in Germany dialects were still spoken by everyone. Other capitals (Berlin, Dresden, Munich, Vienna) eventually developed their own Umgangssprachen, but the Hanover model remained the ideal.
4. ^ "Reading Heinrich Heine" (PDF). He spoke the dialect of Hanover, where – as also in the vicinity to the south of this city – German is pronounced best.
5. ^ "Nicht das beste Hochdeutsch in Hannover". 7 August 2013. In Hannover wird zweifellos ein Deutsch gesprochen, das sehr nah an der nationalen Aussprachenorm liegt. Aber das gilt auch für andere norddeutsche Städte wie Kiel, Münster oder Rostock. Hannover hat da keine Sonderstellung.
6. ^ Differences include the pronunciation of the endings -er, -en, and -em.
7. ^ ^{a b} See the discussions in Wiese (1996:16–17) and Staffeldt (2010:passim)
8. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u} See the vowel charts in Mangold (2005:37).
9. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p} Kohler (1999:87)
10. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o} Lodge (2009:87)
11. ^ "John Wells's phonetic blog: ɘ". 3 June 2009. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
12. ^ Gilles & Trouvain (2013), pp. 70–71.
13. ^ Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), p. 39.
14. ^ ^{a b c} Kohler (1999:88)
15. ^ Wierzbicka & Rynkowska (1992:413)
16. ^ ^{a b} Wiese (1996:8)
17. ^ ^{a b} Krech et al. (2009:24)
18. ^ E.g. Wierzbicka & Rynkowska (1992)
19. ^ Wierzbicka & Rynkowska (1992:412). Authors state that /ɑ/ can be realized as Polish /a/, i.e. central [ä].
20. ^ Wierzbicka & Rynkowska (1992:412–415)
21. ^ ^{a b} Moosmüller, Schmid & Brandstätter (2015:342–344)
22. ^ Wierzbicka & Rynkowska (1992:412)
23. ^ e.g. by Lodge (2009:86–89) (without length marks, i.e. as /ɑ/—the vowel chart on page 87 places /a/ and /ɑ/ in the same open central position [ä]), Morciniec & Prędota (2005) (without length marks, i.e. as /ɑ/) and Wierzbicka & Rynkowska (1992).
24. ^ ^{a b} Wiese (1996:254)
25. ^ ^{a b c} von Polenz (2000:151, 175)
26. ^ Südhessisches Wörterbuch online
27. ^ ^{a b c} Source: Wiese (1996:11, 14). On the page 14, the author states that /aɪ̯/, /aʊ̯/ and /ɔʏ̯/ are of the same quality as vowels of which they consist. On the page 8, he states that /a/ is low central.
28. ^ ^{a b c} See vowel chart in Kohler (1999:87). Despite their true ending points, Kohler still transcribes them as /aɪ̯ aʊ̯ ɔɪ̯/, i.e. with higher offsets than those actually have.
29. ^ Source: Krech et al. (2009:72). Authors do not provide a vowel chart. Rather, they state rather vaguely that "the diphthong [aɛ̯] is a monosyllabic compound consisting of the unrounded open vowel [a] and the unrounded mid front vowel [ɛ]."
30. ^ Source: Krech et al. (2009:72–73). Authors do not provide a vowel chart. Rather, they state rather vaguely that "the diphthong [aɔ̯] is a monosyllabic compound consisting of the unrounded open vowel [a] and the rounded mid back vowel [ɔ]."
31. ^ Krech et al. (2009:73). Authors do not provide a vowel chart. Rather, they state rather vaguely that "the diphthong [ɔœ̯] is a monosyllabic compound consisting of the rounded mid back vowel [ɔ] and the rounded mid front vowel [œ]."
32. ^ Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), p. 34.
33. ^ Krech et al. (2009), p. 26.
34. ^ Wiese (1996:12)
35. ^ ^{a b c d} Wiese (1996:198)
36. ^ Also supported by Tröster-Mutz (2011:20).
37. ^ ^{a b} Moosmüller, Schmid & Brandstätter (2015:342)
38. ^ For a detailed discussion of the German consonants from a synchronic and diachronic point of view, see Cercignani (1979).
39. ^ Mangold (2005:45)
40. ^ ^{a b c} Mangold (2005:47, 49)
41. ^ Krech et al. (2009:94, 96). According to this source, only /l, n/ can be apical alveolar.
42. ^ Morciniec & Prędota (2005:51–52, 84). According to this source, only /t, n/ can be apical alveolar.
43. ^ See the x-ray tracing of /l/ in Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:184), based on data from Wängler (1961).
44. ^ Krech et al. (2009:90, 94, 96)
45. ^ Morciniec & Prędota (2005:51–52, 84). According to this source, only /t, n/ can be laminal alveolar.
46. ^ Krech et al. (2009:90). According to this source, only /t, d/ can be laminal denti-alveolar.
47. ^ Morciniec & Prędota (2005:51–52, 59, 78, 84)
48. ^ See the x-ray tracing of /t/ in Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:184), based on data from Wängler (1961).
49. ^ Hamann & Fuchs (2010:14–24)
50. ^ ^{a b c d} Moosmüller, Schmid & Brandstätter (2015:341)
51. ^ ^{a b c d} Mangold (2005:50, 52)
52. ^ ^{a b} Krech et al. (2009:79–80). This source talks only about /s, z/.
53. ^ ^{a b c} Morciniec & Prędota (2005:65, 75) This source talks only about /s, z/.
54. ^ Mangold (2005:50)
55. ^ ^{a b c d e} Mangold (2005:51–52)
56. ^ ^{a b} Krech et al. (2009:51–52)
57. ^ ^{a b c d} Morciniec & Prędota (2005:67, 76)
58. ^ Mangold (2005:51)
59. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Mangold (2005:53)
60. ^ ^{a b c d} Krech et al. (2009:86)
61. ^ ^{a b} Morciniec & Prędota (2005:79)
62. ^ ^{a b c} Moosmüller, Schmid & Brandstätter (2015:341–342): "SAG features a wide variety of realizations of the trill. In approximately the past 40 years, the pronunciation norm has changed from an alveolar to a uvular trill. The latter is mostly pronounced as a fricative, either voiced or voiceless. Alveolar trills are still in use, mostly pronounced as an approximant.
63. ^ Morciniec & Prędota (2005:80)
64. ^ Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:225, 229)
65. ^ Lodge (2009:46)
66. ^ Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:225)
67. ^ Krech et al. (2009:74, 85)
68. ^ ^{a b} Morciniec & Prędota (2005:81)
69. ^ ^{a b c} Kohler (1999:86)
70. ^ Kohler (1999:86–87)
71. ^ Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:225, 233–234)
72. ^ deutschlandfunkkultur.de. "Dialekte - Hessische Zungenbrecher". Deutschlandfunk Kultur (in German). Retrieved 2024-04-18.
73. ^ ^{a b} Mangold (2005:52)
74. ^ Moosmüller (2007:6)
75. ^ ^{a b} Wiese (1996:271)
76. ^ Krech et al. (2009:49, 92, 97)
77. ^ Krech et al. (2009:83–84)
78. ^ Morciniec & Prędota (2005:77–78). The authors transcribe it /j/, i.e. as an approximant.
79. ^ Wiese (1996:12). The author transcribes it /j/, i.e. as an approximant.
80. ^ Mangold (2005:51). The author transcribes it /j/, i.e. as an approximant.
81. ^ Hall (2003:48). The author transcribes it /j/, i.e. as an approximant.
82. ^ ^{a b} Moosmüller, Schmid & Brandstätter (2015:340). The authors transcribe it as /j/, i.e. as an approximant.
83. ^ e.g. Kohler (1990)
84. ^ e.g. Wiese (1996)
85. ISBN 9783825284916
    .
86. ^ Wiese, Richard (2000). The Phonology of German. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 218–234.
87. ^ Wiese (1996:217)
88. ^ Kohler (1977) and Kohler (1990), as cited in Wiese (1996:210)
89. ^ Hall (2022), pp. 455ff.
90. ^ ^{a b c d} Mangold (2005:56)
91. ^ ^{a b} Mangold (2005:55)
92. ^ Jessen & Ringen (2002:190)
93. ^ [v] written v^[clarify] can devoice in nearly every place once the word has become common; w is devoiced in Möwe, Löwe. On the other hand, the keeping to the variety is so standard that doof [doːf] induced the writing "(der) doofe" even though the standard pronunciation of the latter word is [ˈdoːvə]
94. ^ See Ammon et al. (2004, p. LVII).
95. ^ ^{a b} Beckman, Jessen & Ringen (2009:233)
96. ^ In Southern Germany, Austria or Switzerland there is no phonetic voice in fricatives either, see Ammon et al. (2004, p. LVII).
97. ^ Beckman, Jessen & Ringen (2009:264–265)
98. ^ "Lautstruktur des Luxemburgischen – Wortübergreifende Phänomene". Retrieved 2013-05-15.
99. ISBN 3-11-010980-8
    .
100. ISBN 0198299508
     .
101. ^ ^{a b} Meibauer et al. (2007:261)
102. ^ ^{a b c d} Meibauer et al. (2007:263)
103. ^ Grijzenhout & Joppen (1998:1)
104. ^ Meibauer et al. (2007:264)
105. ^ Grijzenhout & Joppen (1998:12)
106. ^ Lintfert (2010:159)
107. ^ ^{a b} Lintfert (2010:138)
108. ^ Lintfert (2010:160)
109. ^ Altvater-Mackensen & Fikkert (2007:14)
110. ^ Altvater-Mackensen & Fikkert (2007:16)
111. ^ Altvater-Mackensen & Fikkert (2007:19)
112. ^ Altvater-Mackensen & Fikkert (2007:23)
113. ^ Ott, van de Vijver & Höhle (2006:323)
114. ^ Ott, van de Vijver & Höhle (2006:331)
115. ^ Goswami, Ziegler & Richardson (2005:362)
116. ^ Krech et al. (2009:108)
117. ^ "ZhimAnlaut < AADG < TWiki". Prowiki.ids-mannheim.de. 2016-04-27. Retrieved 2022-03-20.
118. ^ "SimAnlaut < AADG < TWiki". prowiki.ids-mannheim.de. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
119. ^ "SteakSprayStSp < AADG < TWiki". prowiki.ids-mannheim.de. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
120. ^ "ChipsCh < AADG < TWiki". prowiki.ids-mannheim.de. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
121. ^ Source: Kohler (1999:88). In the original transcription the vowel length is not indicated, apart from where it is phonemic—that is, for the pairs /a/–/aː/ and /ɛ/–/ɛː/.
122. ^ Kohler (1999:89)

References

• Altvater-Mackensen, N.; Fikkert, P. (2007), "On the acquisition of nasals in Dutch and German", Linguistics in the Netherlands, 24: 14–24,
  doi:10.1075/avt.24.04alt
• Ammon, Ulrich; Bickel, Hans; Ebner, Jakob; Esterhammer, Ruth; Gasser, Markus; Hofer, Lorenz; Kellermeier-Rehbein, Birte; Löffler, Heinrich; Mangott, Doris; Moser, Hans; Schläpfer, Robert; Schloßmacher, Michael; Schmidlin, Regula; Vallaster, Günter (2004), Variantenwörterbuch des Deutschen. Die Standardsprache in Österreich, der Schweiz und Deutschland sowie in Liechtenstein, Luxemburg, Ostbelgien und Südtirol, Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter,
  ISBN 3-11-016575-9
• Beckman, Jill; Jessen, Michael; Ringen, Catherine (2009), "German fricatives: coda devoicing or positional faithfulness?" (PDF), Phonology, 26 (2), Cambridge University Press: 231–268,
  S2CID 5939288
• ISBN 978-0253202949
• Cercignani, Fausto (1979), The Consonants of German: Synchrony and Diachrony, Milano: Cisalpino
• Dudenredaktion; Kleiner, Stefan; Knöbl, Ralf (2015) [First published 1962], Das Aussprachewörterbuch (in German) (7th ed.), Berlin: Dudenverlag,
  ISBN 978-3-411-04067-4
• Gilles, Peter; Trouvain, Jürgen (2013), "Luxembourgish" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (1): 67–74,
  doi:10.1017/S0025100312000278
• Goswami, U.; Ziegler, J.; Richardson, U. (2005), "The effects of spelling consistency on phonological awareness: A comparison of English and German", Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 92 (4): 345–365,
  PMID 16087187
• Grijzenhout, J.; Joppen, S. (1998), First Steps in the Acquisition of German Phonology: A Case Study (PDF)
• Hall, Christopher (2003) [First published 1992], Modern German pronunciation: An introduction for speakers of English (2nd ed.), Manchester: Manchester University Press,
  ISBN 0-7190-6689-1
• Hall, Tracy Alan (2022), Velar fronting in German dialects: A study in synchronic and diachronic phonology, Berlin: Language Science Press,
  ISBN 978-3-96110-398-0
• Hamann, Silke; Fuchs, Susanne (2010), Retroflexion of voiced stops: data from Dhao, Thulung, Afar and German (PDF)
• Höhle, Barbara; Weissenborn, Jürgen (2003), "German-learning infants' ability to detect unstressed closed-class elements in continuous speech", Developmental Science, 6 (2): 122–127,
  doi:10.1111/1467-7687.00261
• Jessen, Michael; Ringen, Catherine (2002), "Laryngeal features in German" (PDF), Phonology, 19 (2), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 189–221,
  S2CID 45924018
• Kohler, Klaus J. (1977), Einführung in die Phonetik des Deutschen, Berlin: E. Schmidt
• Kohler, Klaus J. (1990), "German", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 20 (1): 48–50,
  S2CID 249402465
• Kohler, Klaus J. (1999), "German", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 86–89,
  ISBN 0-521-65236-7
• Krech, Eva Maria; Stötzer, Ursula (1982), Großes Wörterbuch der deutschen Aussprache, Leipzig: VEB Bibhographisches Institut,
  ISBN 978-3323001404
• Krech, Eva Maria; Stock, Eberhard; Hirschfeld, Ursula; Anders, Lutz-Christian (2009), Deutsches Aussprachewörterbuch, Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter,
  ISBN 978-3-11-018202-6
• ISBN 0-631-19815-6
  .
• Lintfert, Britta (2010), Phonetic and phonological development of stress in German (Doctoral thesis, Universität Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany) (doctoralThesis), pp. 138–160,
  doi:10.18419/opus-2671
• LEO Dictionary Team (2006), LEO Online Dictionary, Faculty of Computer Sciences, Technische Universität München, retrieved February 29, 2012
• Lodge, Ken (2009), A Critical Introduction to Phonetics, Continuum International Publishing Group,
  ISBN 978-0-8264-8873-2
• ISBN 3-411-20916-X
  .
• Mangold, Max (2005) [First published 1962], Das Aussprachewörterbuch (in German) (6th ed.), Mannheim: Dudenverlag,
  ISBN 978-3-411-04066-7
• Meibauer, Jörg; Demske, Ulrike; Geilfuß-Wolfgang, Jochen; Pafel, Jürgen; Ramers, Karl-Heinz; Rothweiler, Monika; Steinbach, Markus (2007), Einführung in die germanistische Linguistik (2nd ed.), Stuttgart: Verlag J.B Metzler,
  ISBN 978-3476021410
• Meinhold, Gottfried; Stock, Eberhard (1980), Phonologie der deutschen Gegenwartssprache, Leipzig: VEB Bibliographisches Institut
• Moosmüller, Sylvia (2007), Vowels in Standard Austrian German: An Acoustic-Phonetic and Phonological Analysis (PDF), retrieved March 21, 2013
• Moosmüller, Sylvia; Schmid, Carolin; Brandstätter, Julia (2015), "Standard Austrian German" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 45 (3): 339–348,
  doi:10.1017/S0025100315000055
• Morciniec, Norbert; Prędota, Stanisław (2005) [First published 1985], Podręcznik wymowy niemieckiej (6th ed.), Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN,
  ISBN 83-01-14503-X
• Ott, Susan; van de Vijver, Ruben; Höhle, Barbara (2006), "The effect of phonotactic constraints in German-speaking children with delayed phonological acquisition: Evidence from production of word-initial consonant clusters" (PDF), Advances in Speech Language Pathology, 4, 8 (4): 323–334,
  S2CID 18006444
• Siebs, Theodor (1898), Deutsche Bühnensprache, Cologne: Ahn
• Staffeldt, Sven (2010), "Zum Phonemstatus von Schwa im Deutschen. Eine Bestandsaufnahme" (PDF), Acta Facultatis Philosophicae Universitatis Ostraviensis. Studia germanistica, 7: 83–96,
  ISSN 1803-408X
• Tröster-Mutz, Stefan (2011), Variation of vowel length in German (PDF), Groningen{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• S2CID 145148233
• Ulbrich, Horst (1972), Instrumentalphonetisch-auditive R-Untersuchungen im Deutschen, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag
• von Polenz, Peter (2000), Deutsche Sprachgeschichte: vom Spätmittelalter bis zur Gegewart, Walter de Gruyter,
  ISBN 978-3110168020
• Wängler, Hans-Heinrich (1961), Atlas deutscher Sprachlaute, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag
• Wierzbicka, Irena; Rynkowska, Teresa (1992), Samouczek języka niemieckiego: kurs wstępny (6th ed.), Warszawa: Wiedza Powszechna,
  ISBN 83-214-0284-4
• Wiese, Richard (1996), The Phonology of German, Oxford: Oxford University Press,
  ISBN 0-19-824040-6

Further reading

• ISBN 978-3862885626
• Odom, William; Schollum, Benno (1997), German for Singers (2nd ed.), New York: Schirmer Books,
  ISBN 978-0028646015
• Rues, Beate; Redecker, Beate; Koch, Evelyn; Wallraff, Uta; Simpson, Adrian P. (2007), Phonetische Transkription des Deutschen (in German) (1st ed.), Narr,
  ISBN 978-3823362913
• ISBN 978-3110003253
• Wielki słownik niemiecko-polski (1st ed.), Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 2014 [2010],
  ISBN 978-83-01-16182-8

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to German phonology.

• Listen to the pronunciation of German first names