'German phonology' describes the
phonology of
Standard German.
Since German is a
pluricentric language, there are a number of different pronunciations of standard German which however agree in most respects.
Vowels
#Short occur only in unstressed syllables of
loanwords, for instance in ''Ps'y'ch'o'm'e'trie'' 'psychometry'. They are usually considered complementary
allophones together with their long counterparts which cannot occur in unstressed syllables.
#The
schwa occurs only in unstressed syllables, for instance in ''b'e'setz'e'n'' 'occupy'. It is often considered a complementary allophone together with which cannot occur in unstressed syllables. If a
sonorant follows in the
syllable coda, the schwa often disappears so that the sonorant becomes syllabic, for instance ''Kiss'en''' 'pillow', ''Es'el''' 'donkey', ''bess'er''' 'better'. Note that the syllabic is realized as in many varieties, for instance ''bess'er''' 'better'.
#The long
open-mid front unrounded vowel is merged with the
close-mid front unrounded vowel in many varieties of standard German. Examples: '''Äh're'' 'ear' (of wheat, etc.)—'''Eh're'' 'honour', and ''B'ä'ren'' 'bear'—''B'ee'ren'' 'berries' are pairs of homophones for many speakers who will use and indiscriminately.—The phonological status of has been the source of much contention in phonological literature for a number of reasons: (1) the insertion of a phoneme is an irregularity in a vowel system that otherwise has pairs of long and tense vs. short and lax vowels such as vs. ; (2) it has been stated that in High German is due more to a hypercorrective, stage-pronunciation oriented (''Bühnendeutsch'') view than to a consistent differentiation in actual vernacular—while some dialects (''Mundarten'') do have an opposition of vs. , there is little aggreement across dialects as to exactly which lexical items should be pronounced with and which with ; (3) it is plausible to assume that is "merely"
spelling pronunciation (rather than an "original" feature of the language)—that is, an attempt on part of the speakers to "speak as it is printed" (''sprechen wie gedruckt'') and to differentiate the spellings ''e'' and ''ä'' (that is, users of the language license the appearance of ''e'' and ''ä'' in the written by making them distinct in the spoken language); (4) many speakers with an otherwise fairly standard
idiolect find it rather difficult to utter longer passages with all the [e:]s and [ɛ:]s in the right places; such persons apparently have to picture the spellings of the words in question which impedes the flow of speech.
The vowels are often analyzed according to a
tenseness contrast, being the tense vowels and their lax counterparts. Like the English
checked vowels, the German lax vowels require to be followed by a consonant, with the notable exception of (which is however absent in many varieties). In order to apply the division into pairs of tense and lax to all German vowels, is sometimes considered the lax counterpart of tense .
Diphthongs
The German diphthongs are , for instance in '''Ei''' 'egg', ''S'au''' 'sow', ''n'eu''' 'new'. Occasionally, these are transcribed as . Instead of the transcription , the transcription is used as well.
Marginally, there occur some more diphthongs, for instance
★ in
interjections such as ''pf'ui''' ,
and in
loanwords, among others, as in
★ ''F'euille'ton'' ,
★ ''H'o'mep'a'ge'' ,
★ ''Cr'oi'ssant'' .
Usually, these are not counted among the German diphthongs as German speakers often feel they are distinct marks of ‘foreign words’ (''Fremdwörter'').
In the varieties where vowelizes to in the syllable coda (see below), a diphthong ending in may be formed with virtually every vowel, for instance in ''T'or''' 'gate' or in ''W'ür'de'' 'dignity'.
Consonants
With approximately 25 phonemes, the German consonant system exhibits an average number of consonants in comparison with other languages. One of the more noteworthy ones is the unusual
affricate .
#In the northern varieties, occurs before word stems with initial vowel. It is often not considered a phoneme, but an optional boundary mark of word stems.
# and occur only in words of foreign origin. In certain varieties, they are replaced by and altogether.
# and are traditionally regarded as allophones after front vowels and back vowels, however there is at least one minimal pair, thanks to compounding. For a more detailed analysis see below at
''ich-Laut'' and ''ach-Laut''. According to some analysis, is an allophone of after and according to some also after .
#, and are free allophones of each other. is used only in Southern varieties. In the
syllable coda, the allophone is used in many varieties, except in the South-West.
#Some phonologists deny the phoneme and use instead, and instead of . The phoneme sequence is realized as when can start a valid onset of the next syllable whose nucleus is a vowel other than unstressed , , or . It becomes otherwise. Example:
#
★ ''diphthong'' : ''diphthongieren''
#
★ ''Englisch'' : ''Anglo''
#
★ ''Ganges'' ~
# is occasionally considered to be an allophone of [v], especially in Southern varieties of German.
The voiceless stops , , are
aspirated except when preceded by a
sibilant. The obstruents are voiceless in the Southern varieties.
''Ich-Laut'' and ''ach-Laut''
The term 'ich-Laut' refers to the
voiceless palatal fricative , the term 'ach-Laut' to the
voiceless velar fricative . In German, these two sounds are
allophones occurring in
complementary distribution. The allophone occurs after back vowels and (for instance in ''Buch'' ‘book’), the allophone after front vowels (for instance in ''ich'' ‘I’) and consonants (for instance in ''Furcht'' ‘fear’) (Kohler 1977, 1990; Wiese 1996: 210).
In
loanwords, pronunciation of potential fricatives in onsets of stressed syllables vary: in the Northern varieties of standard German, it is , while in Southern varieties, it is (for instance in ''China'': vs. ).
The
diminutive suffix ''-chen'' is always pronounced with an ''ich-Laut'' . Usually, this ending triggers
umlaut (compare for instance ''Hund'' 'dog' to ''Hündchen'' ‘little dog’), so theoretically, it could only occur after front vowels. However, in some comparatively recent coinings, there is no longer an umlaut, for instance in the word ''Frauchen'' ‘female dog master’ (a diminutive of ''Frau'' ‘woman’), so that a back vowel is followed by , even though normally it would be followed by a , as in ''rauchen'' ‘to smoke’. There is even a minimal pair for and due to this effect: ''Kuhchen'' ‘little cow’ vs. ''Kuchen'' ‘cake’. This exception to the allophonic distribution is considered by some to be an effect of the morphemic boundary. However, many phoneticians believe that this is an example of ''
phonemicization'', where erstwhile allophones undergo a split into separate phonemes.
The allophonic distribution of after front vowels and after other vowels is also found in other languages, such as
Scots, in the pronunciation of ''light''. However, it is by no means inevitable:
Dutch,
Yiddish, and many Southern German dialects retain in all positions. It is thus reasonable to assume that
Old High German ''ih'', the ancestor of modern ''ich'', was pronounced with rather than . And while it is impossible to know for certain whether
Old English words such as ''niht'' (modern ''night'') were pronounced with or , is likely (see
Old English phonology#Consonant allophones).
Despite the phonetic history, the complementary distribution of and in modern Standard German is better described as backing of after a back vowel, rather than fronting of after a front vowel, because is used in onsets (''Chemie'' ) and after consonants (''Molch'' ), and is thus considered the basic sound.
According to certain analyses, the German ''ach-Laut'' is further differentiated into two allophones, and . Some say that occurs after (for instance in ''Buch'' ‘book’) and after (for instance in ''Bach'' ‘brook’), others say that occurs after and after .
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 , , , , //. These pairs are often called
fortis-lenis pairs, since describing them as voiced/voiceless pairs is inadequate. With certain qualifications, are also considered fortis-lenis pairs.
The fortis plosives are aspirated in most varieties (exceptions include Bavarian-Austrian varieties). The aspiration is strongest in the onset of a stressed syllable (such as Taler ), weaker in the onset of an unstressed syllable (such as Vater ), and weakest in the syllable coda (such as in Saat ).
The lenis consonants are voiceless in most southern varieties of German. For clarity, they are often transcribed as . 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 most varieties of German, the opposition between fortis and lenis is
neutralized in the syllable coda, due to
terminal devoicing (Auslautverhärtung). A few southern varieties of German, such as Swiss German, present an exception to this.
In various central and southern varieties, the opposition between fortis and lenis is also neutralized in the syllable onset; sometimes just in the onset of stressed syllables, sometimes in all cases.
The pair is not considered a fortis-lenis pair, but a simple voiceless-voiced pair, as remains voiced in all varieties, including the Southern varieties that devoice the lenes. Generally, the southern is realized as the voiced
approximant . However there are southern varieties which differentiate between a fortis (such as in sträflich from
Middle High German stræflich) and a lenis (, such as in höflich from Middle High German hovelîch); this is analogous to the opposition of fortis () and lenis .
Stress
Stress in German usually falls on the first syllable, with the following exceptions:
★ Many
loanwords, especially proper names, keep their original stress.
★ Verbs of the "-ieren" group ("studieren", "kapitulieren", "stolzieren", etc.) receive stress on their penultimate syllable.
★ Compound adverbs, with 'her', 'hin', 'da', or 'wo' as their first syllable part, receive stress on their second syllable.
Moreover, German makes a distinction in stress between separable prefixes (stress on prefix) and inseparable prefixes (stress on root) in verbs and words derived from such verbs. Therefore:
★ Words beginning with 'be-', 'ge-', 'er-', 'ver-', 'zer-', 'ent-', 'emp-' and a few others receive stress on the second syllable.
★ Words beginning with 'ab-', 'auf-', 'ein-', 'vor-', and most other prepositional adverbs receive stress on their first syllable.
★ Some prefixes, notably 'über-', 'unter-', and 'um-', can function as separable or inseparable prefixes, and are stressed and unstressed accordingly.
★ Rarely, two homographs with such prefixes are formed. They are not strictly homophones. Consider the word, ''umschreiben''. As ''um•schreiben'' (separable prefix), it means "to rewrite", and is pronounced , and its associated noun, ''die Umschreibung'' also receives stress on the first syllable. On the other hand, ''umschreiben'' (inseparable prefix) is pronounced . This word means "to circumscribe", and its associated noun, ''die Umschreibung'' ("circumscription", "circumlocution") also receives stress on the second syllable. Another example is the word ''umfahren''. With stress on the root () it means "to drive around (an obstacle in the street)", and with stress on the prefix () it means "to drive over / to collide with (an object on the street)".
Historical sound changes
The
Middle High German vowel pairs and have merged to and respectively in modern standard German, although many dialects retain the distinction. For example, while ''heiß'' 'hot' (MHG ''heiz'') and ''Eis'' 'ice' (MHG ''îs'') rhyme in the
standard language, they do not in the
Austro-Bavarian dialects (''hoaß''/''äis'') and in the
Alemannic German dialects (''heiß''/''iis''), nor in the
Yiddish language (''heys''/''ayz''), also a descendant of Middle High German.
Phonemic mergers
A merger found in many accents of German is that of (spelled ''ä(h)'') with (spelled ''e'', ''ee'', or ''eh''). Some speakers merge the two everywhere, some distinguish them everywhere, others keep distinct only in
conditional forms of
strong verbs (for example they distinguish ''ich gäbe'' 'I would give' vs. ''ich gebe'' 'I give', but not ''Bären'' 'bears' vs. ''Beeren'' 'berries').
Another common merger is that of at the end of a syllable with (after a front vowel) or, less commonly, (after a back vowel or ). In the case of the ending ''-ig'', this pronunciation is prescribed by the Siebs standard, for instance ''wichtig'' . The merger occurs neither in
Austro-Bavarian German and
Alemannic German nor in the corresponding varieties of standard German.
References
★
Duden. ''Aussprachewörterbuch''. Dudenverlag: Mannheim/Leipzig/Wien/Zürich (2005). ISBN 3-411-04064-5
★ Kohler, Klaus J. (1977). ''Einführung in die Phonetik des Deutschen''. Berlin: E. Schmidt.
★ Kohler, Klaus J. (1990). German. ''Journal of the International Phonetic Association'' 20:48–50.
★ Siebs, Theodor. (1898). ''Deutsche Bühnensprache''. Cologne: Ahn.
★ Wiese, Richard. (1996). ''The Phonology of German''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-824040-6.
See also
★
German orthography
External Links
★
Listen to the pronunciation of German first names
★
Articulatory correlates of the voicing contrast in alveolar obstruent production in German
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