Lx I The sounds of German Lecture 5 – Week 6

1. Lx I The sounds of German Lecture 5 – Week 6 I. Social and geographical variation II. Phonological integration of borrowed words

2. Social and geographical variation • Dialects • - spoken more in the south (geog.) • more in rural areas • more by manual workers (social) • Even when not (no longer) speaking dialect, affect pronunciation of the standard language

3. The High German sound shift /p, t, k//pf/ or /f/ , /ts/ or /s/, /x/ or /ç/ Standard vs. north of the Benrather Linie (just north of Cologne) Pferd / paard Zehn / tien , essen / eten Ich / ik

4. The High German sound shift /p, t, k//pf/ or /f/ , /ts/ or /s/, /x/ or /ç/ Standard vs. north of the Benrather Linie (just north of Cologne) Pferd / paard (English pepper vs Pfeffer) Zehn / tien (ten), essen / eten (eat) Ich / ik (book vs. Buch)

5. And … /b, d, g//p, t, k/ In the standard: only /d/ /t/ Tochter vs. dochter (English daughter) only in the very south: /b/ /p/ and /g/ /k/ Brot > prot gesagt > ksagt

6. The High German sound shift … Unshifted forms remain in the north, north of the Benrather Linie (just north of Cologne):

7. 2. Binnenhochdeutsche Konsonantenlenierung (High German consonant lenition or weakening) In many parts of the centre and south, the voiceless consonants are not aspirated (much / at all) and so sound very like voiced consonants: Kugel / Gugel(-hupf), tritt / dritt, Pein / Bein become homophones

8. sie singen so sauber ….: /s/ or /z/? • In standard German, <s> at the start of a word (im Anlaut) is pronounced /z/, so sang = /zaŋ/ • but in the south, initial <s> is usually not voiced, i.e. is /s/, as in /saŋ/ • On the other hand, some southerners say /z/ for /s/ in the middle of a word (im Inlaut), as in /bɪzl/ for /bɪsl/ (Bissel = Bisschen)

9. “jut so!” • In the Rhineland, you will often hear an initial <g> /g/ pronounced instead as /j/, as in ju:t zo:! <gut so!> • This is alos a feature of Berlinish

10. leben or leven / lewen? • In some parts of the east and in the south-west, a medial <b> is pronounced like a fricative. • In dialect sometimes, even spelt as a fricative: leven / lewen (and cf. live, seven ….) • NB NOT our English /w/ • It is a voiced bilabial fricative: ß

11. Stolpern über den spitzen Stein? • We know that in standard German, <st> at the start of the word is pronounced /∫t/ • But in the far north (Bremen, Hamburg, etc.), it is pronounced as in English <st>, /st/

12. Stolpern über den spitzen Stein? • We know that in standard German, <st> at the start of the word is pronounced /∫t/ • But in the far north (Bremen, Hamburg, etc.), it is pronounced as in English <st>, /st/ • and in Swabia, /st/ often becomes / ∫t/ even in the middle of / end of a word: .e.g. Ast /a∫t/

13. Geschichte oder Geschischte? • In the Rhineland, /∫/ is also used more widely than in the standard language: • it replaces /ç/: • “isch, Geschischte, Kirsche” • /ɪç/ >> /ɪ∫/, etc. • i.e. the palatal fricative is replaced by the palatal-alveolar fricative

14. Ach, ich halte durch…. • In standard German, we use /ç/ after a front vowel and after /r/, and /x/ after a back vowel: (they are in complementary distribution) • /x/ /ç/ • Loch Löcher • Buch Bücher • Bach Bächer • ach ich • durch

15. Ach, ich halte durch…. • In Alemannic (= SW and Swiss), /ç/ does not occur; instead /x/ • /ɪç/, /ax/ > /ɪx/, /ax/ • Kuchen oder Kuhchen? • /ku:xn/ oder /ku:çn/ • in Alemannic, there would be no difference ….

16. Ach, ich halte durch…. • In Bavarian and in Austria, the distribution of /ç/ and /x/ is a bit different • /x/ occurs after /r/, instead of /ç/ • durch, Lerche

17. die richtige Chemie? • Standard German uses / ç/ for <ch> at the start of borrowed words like Chemie and China • In the south, people more commonly use /k/ (ie the homorganic stop) • and of course in the Rhineland, they might well say /∫/: • /çɛmi:/ /kɛmi:/ /∫ɛmi:/

18. /x/ and /k/ in word-final position (im Auslaut) • We’ve seen variation between /ç/ and /k/ for <ch> at the start of words • At the end of words, too, there is a tendency for speakers in the north to use /x/ or / ç / where southerners would use /k/

19. Guten Ta/x/ or guten Ta/k/? /x/ and /k/ in word-final position (im Auslaut) • after back vowel: trug /trʊx/ (or /trʊγ/ the voiced velar fricative) vs. trʊk • after front vowel: Sieg /zi:ç/ vs. / zi:k/ • after consonant: Sarg /zarç/ vs / zark/ • in the suffix –ig: /ho:nɪç/ vs. /ho:nɪk/

20. Guten Ta/x/ or guten Ta/k/? /x/ and /k/ in word-final position (im Auslaut) …. • The standard follows the south (i.e. -/k/, except for the suffix <-ig> • in the suffix –ig: the standard uses /ɪç/ • the -/ɪk/ pronunciation stands out as southern in this context

21. Pf and ts – the affricates • In Central and northern German especially, the /pf/ cluster is often reduced to /f/, as in : /fɛfɐ/ for /pfɛfɐ/ (Pfeffer) • In Berlin, initial /ts/ sometimes becomes /s/: /su:/ for /tsu:/ (zu)

22. /r/ and its allophones • allophone = predictable phonetic variant of a phoneme. • Its distribution is usually predictable on the basis of regional distribution or a regular phonological process • We’ve already met the allophones of /r/: [ɐ], [ʀ], [ʁ], [r]

23. /r/ and its allophones … 1. [r] – an alveolar trill produced with the tip of the tongue (also called apical trill) 2. [ʀ] – uvular trill 3. [ʁ] – uvular fricative 4. [ɐ] – vocalic r (mid-low central vowel)

24. /r/ and its allophones … a. Geographical distribution: - the alveolar trill [r] is more widespread in the south, and in rural areas - the uvular r allophones ([ʀ] and [ʁ]) are on more common in the north and in cities, but are on the rise generally

25. /r/ and its allophones … • b. within-speaker variation: • - It is hard to predict when a speaker who uses the uvular r will use the trill ([ʀ]), and when the fricative ([ʁ]) • To make matters more complicated, the fricative can be devoiced to a /χ/ (voiceless uvular fricative), • esp. after a back vowel and a following stop – e.g. warte: /vaχtə/ which can become indistinguishable from wachte: /vaxtə/

26. /r/ and its allophones … • c. Complementary distribution: • - vocalic /r/ (mid-low central vowel [ɐ] ) is used for the unstressed <–er> ending • NB even if there is a following inflectional ending: • Lehrer, des Lehrers: Lehr-[ɐ], des Lehr-[ɐs] • also after long vowels before consonants: • /fy:ɐtə/ führte(NB ɐ is non-syllabic here, should have an eyebrow underneath) • and often after long vowels in final position: wir /vi:ɐ/ vor /fo:ɐ/ (again non-syllabic) • in the unstressed prefixes ver-, er-, zer-, her-

27. /r/ and its allophones … c. Complementary distribution: - but speakers who use the alveolar trill [r] may not use the vocalic r at all …

28. Regional variation in the vowels

29. Tenser vowels in the south: • There is a tendency in the south to make the lax vowels somewhat tenser than in standard German, so that /ɪ/ becomes more like a short /i/, and /ɔ/ becomes more like a short /o/ (Milch, Motte) • This also applies to the diphthong /aɪ/, which tends to be closer in the south (klein) • Also in the south …. An unstressed /ə/ is more likely to sound like a short /e/

30. Schwäbeln und Ähnliches There is a tendency in Swabia (SW)to replace e: with ɛ: , in words like Regen, lesen i.e. To make the vowel sound like ä (Schwäbeln) Meanwhile in much of the north and east-central German, all /ɛ: / are replaced by /e:/ (this is what I naturally do!) (ich nehme vs. ich nähme become homophones)

31. Jo, jo … In Bavaria, an <a> often sounds more like /ɔ/ Ja : /jɔ:/

32. Rounding: Trinkst du gern Mülch? In Münsterland and in some other parts of the north, /ɪ/ can become rounded to become /Y/ (die Rundung)

33. Derounding: (Entrundung) Some rounded vowels become de-rounded in many parts of the south and east-central German area: müde becomes /mi:də/ instead of /my:də/ können becomes a homophone of kennen (both with ɛ)

34. “Warum heißen keine Kinder in Sachsen Günther?” … because with de-rounding of the vowel and consonant lenition, (so that /g/ and /k/, /d/ and /t/ are not distinguished), you would call Günther and all the Kinder would come running …!

35. II. Integrating borrowed phonemes … Or Heute Jazz im Restaurant oder big Mac auf dem Balkon?

36. Integrating borrowed words • we’ve already seen how some phonemes are only “peripheral” in German …. • /Ʒ/ as in Journalist, Journal, Blamage • some Germans do not use this phoneme at all and replace it with / ∫/ (the voiceless equivalent – both are palatal-alveolar fricatives)

37. A peripheral affricate • the affricate /t∫/ is also fairly peripheral, apart from its frequency in Deutsch (word-initially only in borrowed words like Tschechien …)

38. Peripheral vowels: nasal vowels • a nasal vowel is like an ordinary vowel, but with the velum lowered, so that some air can escape through the nose as well as through the mouth • German does not have nasal vowels in any native words • the IPA marking for a nasal vowel is a tilda over the vowel, as in : ã, õ

39. Peripheral vowels: nasal vowels • In words borrowed from French, some speakers do use nasal vowels – • Balkon, Restaurant, Chance, Parfum • /balkɔ~/ , /rɛstorã/ , / ∫ãns(ə)/, /parfœ~/

40. Peripheral vowels: nasal vowels …. • but many speakers do not have nasal vowels in their phoneme inventory. Instead, they replace the nasal vowel with an oral vowel, and add the nasality by adding a velar nasal ŋ • Balkon, Restaurant, Chance, • /balkɔŋ / , /rɛstoraŋ / / ∫aŋs(ə)/

41. Peripheral vowels: nasal vowels …. • …or the nasality is not preserved at all, in the case of Parfum (now also Parfüm) • /parfy:m/

42. Other strategies for the phonological integration of borrowed words • 1. replace voiced phonemes not used in German with their voiceless equivalents • Journalist: /Ʒʊrnalɪst/ >> / ∫ʊrnalɪst/ • Manager: /mænɪdƷə / >> / mɛnɪt∫ɐ • esp. at the end of words, where a voiced obstruent is not possible (Auslautverhärtung): /bɪg mæk/ >> /bɪk mɛk /

43. Other strategies for the phonological integration of borrowed words …. • 2. replace vowels with their nearest equivalents, e.g. • e.g. English /æ/ (mid-low front vowel) >> German /ɛ/ (mid front vowel) • Manager: /mænɪdƷə / >> / mɛnɪt∫ɐ • Big Mac /bɪg mæk/ >> /bɪk mɛk/

44. So …. der Geck (“vain dandy”) becomes homophonous with der Gag : both /gɛk/

45. Other strategies for the phonological integration of borrowed words …. • 3. Pronounce morphemes* as their equivalent in German • e.g. suffix <er> as in Trainer • /ə/ >> /ɐ/ • *a morpheme is the smallest unit of language that can carry meaning – it includes lexical morphemes like Hund, Arbeit, but also grammatical endings and prefixes and suffixes

46. Other strategies for the phonological integration of borrowed words …. • 4. Replace diphthongs that don’t occur in German with a long monophthong of the first element: • - e.g. /eɪ/ as in Trainer • /eɪ/ >> /e:/ in /tre:nɐ/ • - /oʊ/ as in homepage: • /oʊ/ >> /o: in /ho:mpe:t∫/

47. Other strategies for the phonological integration of borrowed words …. 5. Follow the spelling - e.g. Spaghetti Pronounce <sp> as in German, not as in Italian: /∫p/

48. Other strategies for the phonological integration of borrowed words …. 6. Introduce glottal stops where they would naturally occur in German - e.g. das Happy End /hɛpi: ʔɛnt/