pronounced as /notice/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 German: Deutsches Aussprachewörterbuch (German Pronunciation Dictionary) by Eva-Maria Krech et al.,[1] German: [[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 German: [[Bühnendeutsch]] (stage German), but the latter has its own definition and is slightly different.[6]
| Front | Central | Back | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrounded | Rounded | ||||||||
| short | long | short | long | short | long | short | long | ||
| Close | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||||
| Close-mid | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | (pronounced as /ink/) | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||
| Open-mid | pronounced as /ink/ | (pronounced as /ink/) | pronounced as /ink/ | (pronounced as /ink/) | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||
| Open | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||||
Some scholars[7] treat pronounced as //ə// as an unstressed allophone of pronounced as //ɛ//. Likewise, some scholars[7] treat pronounced as //ɐ// as an allophone of the sequence pronounced as //ər// or as a vocalic realization of syllabic /r̩/. The phonemic status of pronounced as //ɛː// is also debated – see below.
Although there is also a length contrast, vowels are often analyzed according to a tenseness contrast, with long pronounced as //iː, yː, uː, eː, øː, oː// being the tense vowels and short pronounced as //ɪ, ʏ, ʊ, ɛ, œ, ɔ// their lax counterparts. Like the English checked vowels, the German lax vowels require a following consonant, with the notable exception of pronounced as //ɛː// (which is absent in many varieties, as discussed below). pronounced as //a// is sometimes considered the lax counterpart of tense pronounced as //aː// in order to maintain this tense/lax division. Short pronounced as /[i, y, u, e, ø, o]/ occur in unstressed syllables of loanwords, for instance in German: Ps'''y'''ch'''o'''m'''e'''trie pronounced as /[psyçomeˈtʁiː]/ ('psychometry'). They are usually considered allophones of tense vowels (thus pronounced as //psyːçoːmeːˈtriː//), which cannot occur in unstressed syllables (unless in compounds). pronounced as //aː// is similarly shortened in those positions, with the difference being that it is shortened also in native words, such as aforementioned German: Opa pronounced as /[ˈoːpa]/ 'grandpa' (phonemically pronounced as //ˈoːpaː//).
In dialects with r-vocalization, historical pronounced as //a(ː)r// (phonetically typically a long monophthong pronounced as /link/) may undergo a shortening akin to pronounced as //aː// when unstressed, as in one pronunciation of German: Rad'''ar''' 'radar' as pronounced as /[ˈʁaːda]/ (phonemically pronounced as //ˈraːdaːr//). An analogous process has taken place in Danish, as in the cognate Danish: radar in Danish pronounced as /ˈʁɑːtɑ/, meaning the same.[13]
Northern German varieties influenced by Low German could be analyzed as lacking contrasting vowel quantity entirely:
The existence of a phoneme pronounced as //ɛː// in German is disputed.The distinction between the long lax pronounced as //ɛː// and the long tense pronounced as //eː// does not exist in some varieties of Standard German, and many authors treat the pronounced as //ɛː// phoneme as peripheral and regard a distinction between it and pronounced as //eː// as a spelling pronunciation. Most commonly, they are merged before an intervocalic pronounced as //r//, so that potential minimal pairs such as German: '''Äh'''re 'ear of grain' and German: '''Eh'''re 'honor' or German: B'''ä'''ren 'bears' and German: B'''ee'''ren 'berries' are rendered homophonous, as pronounced as //ˈɛːrə// and pronounced as //ˈbɛːrən//. Some authors claim that no distinction between pronounced as //ɛː// and pronounced as //eː// is possible in this position unless in hypercorrect pronunciation, in which German: '''Eh'''re and German: B'''ee'''ren may be pronounced pronounced as /[ˈeːʁə]/ and pronounced as /[ˈbeːʁən]/, with a tense pronounced as //eː//. Other authors claim that there is regional variation, a distinction occurring especially in southern variaties of Standard German. In contexts other than before intervocalic pronounced as //r//, the contrast between pronounced as //ɛː// and pronounced as //eː// is more stable, so that German: b'''ä'''ten pronounced as //ˈbɛːtən// 'bid, conjunctive', German: D'''ä'''nen pronounced as //ˈdɛːnən// 'Danes' and German: S'''ä'''gen pronounced as //ˈzɛːɡən// ('saws, n.') may be differentiated from German: b'''e'''ten pronounced as //ˈbeːtən// 'to pray', German: d'''eh'''nen pronounced as //ˈdeːnən// 'to stretch' and German: S'''e'''gen pronounced as //ˈzeːɡən// 'blessing'. Even here the vowels can merge, but to a tense pronounced as //eː//: pronounced as /[ˈbeːtn̩, ˈdeːnən, ˈzeːɡn̩]/. Scholars who question the existence of a phoneme pronounced as //ɛː// do so for the following reasons:
| Ending point | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Front | Back | ||
| Near-close | (pronounced as /ʊɪ̯/) | ||
| Open-mid | pronounced as /ɔɪ̯/ | ||
| Open | pronounced as /aɪ̯/ | pronounced as /aʊ̯/ | |
The following usually are not counted among the German diphthongs as German speakers often feel they are distinct marks of "foreign words" (German: Fremdwörter). These appear only in loanwords:
In the varieties where speakers vocalize pronounced as //r// to pronounced as /link/ in the syllable coda, a diphthong ending in pronounced as /[ɐ̯]/ may be formed with every stressable vowel:
| Diphthong | Example | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phonemically | Phonetically | IPA | Orthography | Translation | |
| pronounced as //ɪr// | pronounced as /[ɪɐ̯]/ | pronounced as /[vɪɐ̯t]/ | German: w<u>ir</u>d | he/she/it becomes | |
| pronounced as //iːr// | pronounced as /[iːɐ̯]/ | pronounced as /[viːɐ̯]/ | German: w<u>ir</u> | we | |
| pronounced as //ʏr// | pronounced as /[ʏɐ̯]/ | pronounced as /[ˈvʏɐ̯də]/ | German: W<u>ür</u>de | dignity | |
| pronounced as //yːr// | pronounced as /[yːɐ̯]/ | pronounced as /[fyːɐ̯]/ | German: f<u>ür</u> | for | |
| pronounced as //ʊr// | pronounced as /[ʊɐ̯]/ | pronounced as /[ˈvʊɐ̯də]/ | German: w<u>ur</u>de | I/he/she/it became | |
| pronounced as //uːr// | pronounced as /[uːɐ̯]/ | pronounced as /[ˈuːɐ̯laʊ̯p]/ | German: <u>Ur</u>laub | holiday | |
| pronounced as //ɛr// | pronounced as /[ɛɐ̯]/ | pronounced as /[ɛɐ̯ft]/ | German: <u>Er</u>ft | Erft | |
| pronounced as //ɛːr// | pronounced as /[ɛːɐ̯]/ | pronounced as /[bɛːɐ̯]/ | German: B<u>är</u> | bear | |
| pronounced as //eːr// | pronounced as /[eːɐ̯]/ | pronounced as /[meːɐ̯]/ | German: m<u>ehr</u> | more | |
| pronounced as //œr// | pronounced as /[œɐ̯]/ | pronounced as /[dœɐ̯t]/ | German: d<u>örr</u>t | he/she/it dries | |
| pronounced as //øːr// | pronounced as /[øːɐ̯]/ | pronounced as /[høːɐ̯]/ | German: h<u>ör</u>! | (you (sg.)) hear! | |
| pronounced as //ɔr// | pronounced as /[ɔɐ̯]/ | pronounced as /[ˈnɔɐ̯dn̩]/ | German: N<u>or</u>den | north | |
| pronounced as //oːr// | pronounced as /[oːɐ̯]/ | pronounced as /[toːɐ̯]/ | German: T<u>or</u> | gate | |
| pronounced as //ar// | pronounced as /[aɐ̯]/ | pronounced as /[haɐ̯t]/ | German: h<u>ar</u>t | hard | |
| pronounced as //aːr// | pronounced as /[aːɐ̯]/ | pronounced as /[vaːɐ̯]/ | German: w<u>ahr</u> | true | |
notes that the length contrast is not very stable before non-prevocalic pronounced as //r// and that ", following the pronouncing dictionaries judge the vowel in German: Art, German: Schwert, German: Fahrt to be long, while the vowel in German: Ort, German: Furcht, German: hart is supposed to be short. The factual basis of this presumed distinction seems very questionable."[20] 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 pronounced as //r// which is itself vocalized are problematic, in particular if pronounced as //a// precedes.
According to the "lengthless" analysis, the aforementioned "long" diphthongs are analyzed as pronounced as /[iɐ̯]/, pronounced as /[yɐ̯]/, pronounced as /[uɐ̯]/, pronounced as /[ɛɐ̯]/, pronounced as /[eɐ̯]/, pronounced as /[øɐ̯]/, pronounced as /[oɐ̯]/ and pronounced as /[aɐ̯]/. This makes non-prevocalic pronounced as //ar// and pronounced as //aːr// homophonous as pronounced as /[aɐ̯]/ or pronounced as /[aː]/. Non-prevocalic pronounced as //ɛr// and pronounced as //ɛːr// may also merge, but the vowel chart in shows that they have somewhat different starting points – mid-centralized open-mid front pronounced as /link/ for the former, open-mid front pronounced as /link/ for the latter.
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." This leads to pronounced as /[iɐ̯]/, pronounced as /[yɐ̯]/, pronounced as /[uɐ̯]/, pronounced as /[eɐ̯]/, pronounced as /[øɐ̯]/, pronounced as /[oɐ̯]/ being pronounced the same as pronounced as /[ɪɐ̯]/, pronounced as /[ʏɐ̯]/, pronounced as /[ʊɐ̯]/, pronounced as /[ɛɐ̯]/, pronounced as /[œɐ̯]/, pronounced as /[ɔɐ̯]/. This merger is usual in the Standard Austrian accent, in which e.g. German: Moor 'bog' is often pronounced pronounced as /[mɔɐ̯]/; this, in contrast with the Standard Northern variety, also happens intervocalically, along with the diphthongization of the laxed vowel to pronounced as /[Vɐ̯]/, so that e.g. German: Lehrer 'teacher' is pronounced pronounced as /[ˈlɛɐ̯ʁɐ]/ (the corresponding Standard Northern pronunciation is pronounced as /[ˈleːʁɐ]/). Another feature of the Standard Austrian accent is complete absorption of pronounced as /[ɐ̯]/ by the preceding pronounced as //a, aː//, so that e.g. German: rar 'scarce' is pronounced pronounced as /[ʁɑː]/.
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 affricate pronounced as //pf//.[21]
| Labial | Alveolar | Post- alveolar | Palatal | Velar/ Uvular | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| Plosive | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | ||||
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| Affricate | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| (pronounced as /link/) | ||||||||
| Fricative | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| Lateral | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| Rhotic | pronounced as /r/ | |||||||
German: Ich-Laut is the voiceless palatal fricative pronounced as /link/ (which is found in the word German: ich pronounced as /[ɪç]/ 'I'), and German: ach-Laut is the voiceless velar fricative pronounced as /link/ (which is found in the word German: ach pronounced as /[ax]/ the interjection 'oh', 'alas'). German: Laut pronounced as /[laʊ̯t]/ is the German word for 'sound, phone'. In German, these two sounds are allophones occurring in complementary distribution. The allophone pronounced as /link/ occurs after back vowels and pronounced as //a aː// (for instance in German: Buch pronounced as /[buːx]/ 'book'), the allophone pronounced as /link/ after front vowels (for instance in German: mich pronounced as /[mɪç]/ 'me/myself') and consonants (for instance in German: Furcht pronounced as /[fʊʁçt]/ 'fear', German: manchmal pronounced as /[ˈmançmaːl]/ 'sometimes'). The allophone pronounced as /link/ also appears after vocalized (r) in superregional variants, e.g. in German: Furcht pronounced as /[fʊɐ̯çt]/ 'fear'. In southeastern regiolects, the German: ach-Laut is commonly used here, yielding pronounced as /[fʊɐ̯xt]/.
In loanwords, the pronunciation of potential fricatives in onsets of stressed syllables varies: in the Northern varieties of standard German, it is pronounced as /link/, while in Southern varieties, it is pronounced as /link/, and in Western varieties, it is pronounced as /link/ (for instance in German: China: pronounced as /[ˈçiːna]/ vs. pronounced as /[ˈkiːna]/ vs. pronounced as /[ˈʃiːna]/).
The diminutive suffix German: -chen is always pronounced with an German: ich-Laut pronounced as /[-çən]/. Usually, this ending triggers umlaut (compare for instance German: Hund pronounced as /[hʊnt]/ 'dog' to German: Hündchen pronounced as /[ˈhʏntçn̩]/ '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 German: Frauchen pronounced as /[ˈfʁaʊ̯çən]/ (a diminutive of German: Frau 'woman'), so that a back vowel is followed by a pronounced as /link/, even though normally it would be followed by a pronounced as /link/, as in German: rauchen pronounced as /[ˈʁaʊ̯xən]/ ('to smoke'). This exception to the allophonic distribution may be an effect of the morphemic boundary or an example of phonemicization, where erstwhile allophones undergo a split into separate phonemes.
The allophonic distribution of pronounced as /link/ after front vowels and pronounced as /link/ after other vowels is also found in other languages, such as Scots, e.g. licht pronounced as /[lɪçt]/ 'light', dochter pronounced as /[ˈdɔxtər]/ 'daughter', and the same distribution is reconstructed for Middle English. However, it is by no means inevitable: Dutch, Yiddish, and many Southern German dialects retain pronounced as /link/ (which can be realized as pronounced as /link/ instead) in all positions. It is thus reasonable to assume that Old High German ih, the ancestor of modern German: ich, was pronounced with pronounced as /link/ rather than pronounced as /link/. While it is impossible to know for certain whether Old English words such as niht (modern night) were pronounced with pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ is likely (see Old English phonology).
Despite the phonetic history, the complementary distribution of pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/ in modern Standard German is better described as backing of pronounced as /link/ after a back vowel, rather than fronting of pronounced as /link/ after a front vowel, because pronounced as /link/ is used in onsets (German: Chemie pronounced as /[çeˈmiː]/ 'chemistry') and after consonants (German: Molch pronounced as /[mɔlç]/ 'newt'), and is thus the underlying form of the phoneme.
According to Kohler,[41] the German German: ach-Laut is further differentiated into two allophones, pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/: pronounced as /link/ occurs after pronounced as //uː, oː// (for instance in German: Buch pronounced as /[buːx]/ 'book') and pronounced as /link/ after pronounced as //a, aː// (for instance in German: Bach pronounced as /[baχ]/ 'brook'), while either pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /link/ may occur after pronounced as //ʊ, ɔ, aʊ̯//, with pronounced as /link/ predominating.
In Western varieties, there is a strong tendency to realize pronounced as /link/ as unrounded pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /link/, and the phoneme may be confused or merged with pronounced as /link/ altogether, secondarily leading to hypercorrection effects where pronounced as /link/ is replaced with pronounced as /link/, for instance in German: Fisch pronounced as /[fɪʃ]/, which may be realized as pronounced as /[fɪç]/.
Within German dialects, a large variation exists as to the environments which trigger or prevent one realization or the other.
Various German consonants occur in pairs at the same place of articulation and in the same manner of articulation, namely the pairs pronounced as //p–b//, pronounced as //t–d//, pronounced as //k–ɡ//, pronounced as //s–z//, pronounced as //ʃ–ʒ//. These pairs are often called fortis–lenis pairs, since describing them as voiced–voiceless pairs is inadequate. With certain qualifications, pronounced as //tʃ–dʒ//, pronounced as //f–v// and pronounced as //θ–ð// are also considered fortis–lenis pairs.
Fortis-lenis distinction for pronounced as //ʔ, m, n, ŋ, l, r, h// is unimportant.
The fortis stops pronounced as //p, t, k// are aspirated in many varieties. The aspiration is strongest in the onset of a stressed syllable (such as German: Taler pronounced as /[ˈtʰaːlɐ]/ 'thaler'), weaker in the onset of an unstressed syllable (such as German: Vater pronounced as /[ˈfaːtʰɐ]/ 'father'), and weakest in the syllable coda (such as in German: Saat pronounced as /[zaːtʰ]/ 'seed'). All fortis consonants, i.e. pronounced as //p, t, k, f, θ, s, ʃ, ç, x, pf, ts, tʃ// are fully voiceless.
The lenis consonants pronounced as //b, d, ɡ, v, ð, z, ʒ, j, r, dʒ// range from being weakly voiced to almost voiceless pronounced as /[b̥, d̥, ɡ̊, v̥, ð̥, z̥, ʒ̊, j̥, r̥, d̥ʒ̊]/ after voiceless consonants: German: Kas'''b'''ah pronounced as /[ˈkasb̥a]/ ('kasbah'), German: ab'''d'''anken pronounced as /[ˈapd̥aŋkn̩]/ ('to resign'), German: rot'''g'''elb pronounced as /[ˈʁoːtɡ̊ɛlp]/ ('red-yellow'), German: Ab'''w'''urf pronounced as /[ˈapv̥ʊʁf]/ ('dropping'), German: Ab'''s'''icht pronounced as /[ˈapz̥ɪçt]/ ('intention'), German: Holz'''j'''alousie pronounced as /[ˈhɔltsʒ̊aluziː]/ ('wooden jalousie'), German: weg'''j'''agen pronounced as /[ˈvɛkj̥aːɡn̩]/ ('to chase away'), German: t'''r'''opfen pronounced as /[ˈtʁ̥ɔpfn̩]/ ('to drop'), German: Obst'''j'''uice pronounced as /[ˈoːpstd̥ʒ̊uːs]/ ('fruit juice'). states that they are "to a large extent voiced" pronounced as /[b, d, ɡ, v, ð, z, ʒ, j, r, dʒ]/ in all other environments, but some studies have found the stops pronounced as //b, d, ɡ// to be voiceless word/utterance-initially in most dialects (while still contrasting with pronounced as //p, t, k// due to the aspiration of the latter).
pronounced as //b, d, ɡ, z, ʒ// are voiceless in most southern varieties of German. For clarity, they are often transcribed as pronounced 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 syllable onset; sometimes just in the onset of stressed syllables, sometimes in all cases.
The pair pronounced as //f–v// is not considered a fortis–lenis pair, but a simple voiceless–voiced pair, as pronounced as /link/ remains voiced in all varieties, including the Southern varieties that devoice the lenes (with however some exceptions).[42] Generally, the southern pronounced as /link/ is realized as the voiced approximant pronounced as /link/. However, there are southern varieties which differentiate between a fortis pronounced as /link/ (such as in German: sträflich pronounced as /[ˈʃtʁɛːflɪç]/ 'culpable' from Middle High German stræflich) and a lenis pronounced as /link/ (pronounced as /[v̥]/, such as in German: höflich pronounced as /[ˈhøːv̥lɪç]/ 'polite' from Middle High German hovelîch); this is analogous to the opposition of fortis pronounced as /link/ (pronounced as /link/) and lenis pronounced as /[z̥]/.
In varieties from Northern Germany, lenis stops in the syllable coda are realized as fortis stops. This does not happen in varieties from Southern Germany, Austria or Switzerland.
Since the lenis stops pronounced as //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. 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. Therefore, the fricatives undergo coda devoicing in the strict sense of the word. 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".
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, German: mit uns becomes pronounced as /[mɪ'''d'''‿ʊns]/ and German: darf ich becomes pronounced as /[daʁ'''v'''‿ɪʃ]/. The same sandhi phenomenon exists also as a general rule in the Luxembourgish language.[43]
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,[44] word stress is put regularly onto the second-to-last syllable, the penultimate syllable.[45] 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.
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):
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:
Like all infants, German infants go through a babbling stage in the early phases of phonological acquisition, during which they produce the sounds they will later use in their first words. Phoneme inventories begin with stops, nasals, and vowels; (contrasting) short vowels and liquids appear next, followed by fricatives and affricates, and finally all other consonants and consonant clusters. Children begin to produce protowords near the end of their first year. These words do not approximate adult forms, yet have a specific and consistent meaning. Early word productions are phonetically simple and usually follow the syllable structure CV or CVC, although this generalization has been challenged. The first vowels produced are pronounced as //ə//, pronounced as //a//, and pronounced as //aː//, followed by pronounced as //eː//, pronounced as //iː//, and pronounced as //ɛ//, with rounded vowels emerging last. German children often use phonological processes to simplify their early word production. For example, they may delete an unstressed syllable (German: Schokolade 'chocolate' pronounced pronounced as /[ˈlaːdə]/), or replace a fricative with a corresponding stop (German: Dach pronounced as /[dax]/ 'roof' pronounced pronounced as /[dak]/). One case study found that a 17-month-old child acquiring German replaced the voiceless velar fricative pronounced as /[x]/ with the nearest available continuant pronounced as /[h]/, or deleted it altogether (German: Buch pronounced as /[buːx]/ 'book' pronounced pronounced as /[buh]/ or pronounced as /[buː]/).
Prosodically, children prefer bisyllabic words with the pattern strong – weak over monosyllabic words.
In 2009, Lintfert examined the development of vowel space of German speakers in their first three years of life. During the babbling stage, vowel distribution has no clear pattern. However, stressed and unstressed vowels already show different distributions in the vowel space. Once word production begins, stressed vowels expand in the vowel space, while the F1 – F2 vowel space of unstressed vowels becomes more centralized. The majority of infants are then capable of stable production of F1. The variability of formant frequencies among individuals decreases with age. After 24 months, infants expand their vowel space individually at different rates. However, if the parents' utterances possess a well-defined vowel space, their children produce clearly distinguished vowel classes earlier. By about three years old, children command the production of all vowels, and they attempt to produce the four cardinal vowels, pronounced as //y//, pronounced as //i//, pronounced as //u// and pronounced as //a//, at the extreme limits of the F1–F2 vowel space (i.e., the height and backness of the vowels are made extreme by the infants).
The acquisition of nasals in German differs from that of Dutch, a phonologically closely related language. German children produce proportionately more nasals in onset position (sounds before a vowel in a syllable) than Dutch children do. German children, once they reached 16 months, also produced significantly more nasals in syllables containing schwas, when compared with Dutch-speaking children. This may reflect differences in the languages the children are being exposed to, although the researchers claim that the development of nasals likely cannot be seen apart from the more general phonological system the child is developing.
A 2006 study examined the acquisition of German in phonologically delayed children (specifically, issues with fronting of velars and stopping of fricatives) and whether they applied phonotactic constraints to word-initial consonant clusters containing these modified consonants. In many cases, the subjects (mean age = 5.1) avoided making phonotactic violations, opting instead for other consonants or clusters in their speech. This suggests that phonotactic constraints do apply to the speech of German children with phonological delay, at least in the case of word-initial consonant clusters. Additional research has also shown that spelling consistencies seen in German raise children's phonemic awareness as they acquire reading skills.
A common merger is that of pronounced as //ɡ// at the end of a syllable with pronounced as /[ç]/ or pronounced as /[x]/, for instance German: Krieg pronounced as /[kʁ̥iː'''ç''']/ ('war'), but German: Kriege pronounced as /[ˈkʁ̥iː'''ɡ'''ə]/ ('wars'); German: er lag pronounced as /[laː'''x''']/ ('he lay'), but German: wir lagen pronounced as /[ˈlaː'''ɡ'''ən]/ ('we lay'). This pronunciation is frequent all over central and northern Germany. It is characteristic of regional languages and dialects, particularly Low German in the North, where (g) represents a fricative, becoming voiceless in the syllable coda, as is common in German (final-obstruent devoicing). However common it is, this pronunciation is considered sub-standard. Only in one case, in the grammatical ending German: -ig (which corresponds to English -y), the fricative pronunciation of final (g) is prescribed by the Siebs standard, for instance German: wichtig pronounced as /[ˈvɪçtɪç]/ ('important'), German: Wichtigkeit pronounced as /[ˈvɪçtɪçkaɪt]/ ('importance'). The merger occurs neither in Austro-Bavarian and Alemannic German nor in the corresponding varieties of Standard German, and therefore in these regions German: -ig is pronounced pronounced as /[ɪɡ̊]/.
Many speakers do not distinguish the affricate pronounced as //pf// from the simple fricative pronounced as //f// in the beginning of a word, in which case the verb German: (er) fährt ('[he] travels') and the noun German: Pferd ('horse') are both pronounced pronounced as /[fɛɐ̯t]/. This most commonly occurs in northern and western Germany, where the local dialects did not originally have the sound pronounced as //pf//. Some speakers also have peculiar pronunciation for pronounced as //pf// in the middle or end of a word, replacing the pronounced as /[f]/ in pronounced as //pf// with a voiceless bilabial fricative, i.e. a consonant produced by pressing air flow through the tensed lips. Thereby German: Tropfen ('drop') becomes pronounced as /[ˈtʁ̥ɔpɸn̩]/, rather than pronounced as /[ˈtʁ̥ɔpfn̩]/.
Many speakers who have a vocalization of pronounced as //r// after pronounced as //a// merge this combination with long pronounced as //aː// (i.e. pronounced as //ar// > pronounced as /
In umlaut forms, the difference usually reoccurs: German: Schäfer pronounced as /[ˈʃɛːfɐ]/ or pronounced as /pronounced as /[ˈʃeːfɐ]// vs. German: schärfer pronounced as /[ˈʃɛɐ̯fɐ]/. Speakers with this merger also often use pronounced as /[aːç]/ (instead of formally normal pronounced as //aːx//) where it stems from original pronounced as /[arç]/. The word German: Archen ('arks') is thus pronounced pronounced as /[ˈaːçn̩]/, which makes a minimal pair with German: [[Aachen]] pronounced as /[ˈaːxn̩]/, arguably making the difference between pronounced as /[ç]/ and pronounced as /[x]/ phonemic, rather than just allophonic, for these speakers.
In the standard pronunciation, the vowel qualities pronounced as //iː//, pronounced as //ɪ//, pronounced as //eː//, pronounced as //ɛ//, as well as pronounced as //uː//, pronounced as //ʊ//, pronounced as //oː//, pronounced as //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 German: Bräut'''e'''gam (instead of German: Bräut'''i'''gam) or German: Port'''o'''gal (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 pronounced as /[ə]/ may be dropped in some cases, and the suffix German: -en may be contracted with preceding consonants, e.g. pronounced as /[ham]/ for German: haben pronounced as /[ˈhaːbən]/ ('to have').
If the clusters pronounced as /[mp]/, pronounced as /[lt]/, pronounced as /[nt]/, or pronounced as /[ŋk]/ are followed by another consonant, the stops pronounced as //p//, pronounced as //t// and pronounced as //k// usually lose their phonemic status. Thus while the standard pronunciation distinguishes German: ganz pronounced as /[ɡants]/ ('whole') from German: Gans pronounced as /[ɡans]/ ('goose'), as well as German: er sinkt pronounced as /[zɪŋkt]/ from German: er singt pronounced as /[zɪŋt]/, the two pairs are homophones for most speakers. The commonest practice is to drop the stop (thus pronounced as /[ɡans]/, pronounced as /[zɪŋt]/ for both words), but some speakers insert the stop where it is not etymological (pronounced as /[ɡants]/, pronounced as /[zɪŋkt]/ for both words), or they alternate between the two ways. Only a few speakers retain a phonemic distinction.
The Middle High German vowels pronounced as /[ei̯]/ and pronounced as /[iː]/ developed into the modern Standard German diphthong pronounced as /[aɪ̯]/, whereas pronounced as /[ou̯]/ and pronounced as /[uː]/ developed into pronounced as /[aʊ̯]/. For example, Middle High German German, Middle High (ca.1050-1500);: heiz pronounced as //hei̯s// and German, Middle High (ca.1050-1500);: wîz pronounced as //wiːs// ('hot' and 'white') became Standard German German: heiß pronounced as //haɪ̯s// and German: weiß pronounced as //vaɪ̯s//. In some dialects, the Middle High German vowels have not changed, e.g. Swiss German German: heiss pronounced as //hei̯s// and German: wiiss pronounced as //viːs//, while in other dialects or languages, the vowels have changed but the distinction is kept, e.g. Bavarian hoaß pronounced as //hɔɐ̯s// and weiß pronounced as //vaɪ̯s//, Ripuarian heeß pronounced as //heːs// and wieß pronounced as //viːs// (however the Colognian dialect has kept the original [ei] diphthong in heiß), Yiddish Yiddish: הײס pronounced as //hɛɪ̯s// and Yiddish: װײַס pronounced as //vaɪ̯s//.
The Middle High German diphthongs pronounced as /[iə̯]/, pronounced as /[uə̯]/ and pronounced as /[yə̯]/ became the modern Standard German long vowels pronounced as /[iː]/, pronounced as /[uː]/ and pronounced as /[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 pronounced as /[iː]/ continues to be written German: ie in German (as in German: Liebe 'love').
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. pronounced as //ʒ// and pronounced as //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 pronounced as //ʃ// and pronounced as //tʃ// respectively (especially in Southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland), so that German: Dschungel (from English jungle) can be pronounced pronounced as /[ˈdʒʊŋl̩]/ or pronounced as /[ˈtʃʊŋl̩]/. Some speakers in Northern and Western Germany merge pronounced as //ʒ// with pronounced as //dʒ//, so that German: Journalist (phonemically pronounced as //dʒʊrnaˈlɪst ~ ʒʊrnaˈlɪst//) can be pronounced pronounced as /[ʒʊɐ̯naˈlɪst]/, pronounced as /[dʒʊɐ̯naˈlɪst]/ or pronounced as /[ʃʊɐ̯naˈlɪst]/. The realization of pronounced as //ʒ// as pronounced as /[tʃ]/, however, is uncommon.[46]
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):
French loanwords, once very numerous, have in part been replaced by native German coinages or more recently English loanwords. Besides pronounced as /link/, they can also contain the characteristic nasal vowels pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/ (always long). However, their status as phonemes is questionable and they are often resolved into sequences either of (short) oral vowel and pronounced as /link/ (in the north), or of (long or short) oral vowel and pronounced as /link/ or sometimes pronounced as /link/ (in the south). For example, German: Ballon pronounced as /[baˈlõː]/ ('balloon') may be realized as pronounced as /[baˈlɔŋ]/ or pronounced as /[baˈloːn]/, German: Parfüm pronounced as /[paʁˈfœ̃ː]/ ('perfume') as pronounced as /[paʁˈfœŋ]/ or pronounced as /[paʁˈfyːm]/ and German: Orange pronounced as /[oˈʁãːʒə]/ ('orange') as pronounced as /[oˈʁaŋʒə]/ or pronounced as /[oˈʁanʒə]/.
The sample text is a reading of "The North Wind and the Sun". The phonemic transcription treats every instance of pronounced as /[ɐ]/ and pronounced as /[ɐ̯]/ as pronounced as //ər// and pronounced as //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. 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.
pronounced as //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//
pronounced as /[aɪns ˈʃtʁɪtn̩ zɪç ˈnɔɐ̯tvɪnt ʊntˈz̥ɔnə <nowiki>|</nowiki> veːɐ̯ fɔn ˈiːnː ˈbaɪdn̩ voːl deːɐ̯ ˈʃtɛɐ̯kəʁə ˈvɛːʁə <nowiki>|</nowiki> als aɪn ˈvandəʁɐ <nowiki>|</nowiki> deːɐ̯ ɪn ˈaɪnː ˈvaːɐ̯mn̩ ˈmantl̩ ɡəˈhʏlt vaːɐ̯ <nowiki>|</nowiki> dəs ˈveːɡəs daˈheːɐ̯kaːm ‖ ziː ˈvʊɐ̯dn̩ ˈaɪnɪç <nowiki>|</nowiki> das ˈdeːɐ̯jeːnɪɡə fʏɐ̯ deːn ˈʃtɛɐ̯kəʁən ˈɡɛltn̩ ˈzɔltə <nowiki>|</nowiki> deːɐ̯ deːn ˈvandəʁɐ ˈtsvɪŋ̍ ˈvʏɐ̯də <nowiki>|</nowiki> ˈzaɪnː ˈmantl̩ ˈaptsʊˌneːmː ‖ deːɐ̯ ˈnɔɐ̯tvɪnt bliːs mɪt ˈalɐ maxt <nowiki>|</nowiki> ˈaːbɐ jeˈmeːɐ̯ eːɐ̯ bliːs <nowiki>|</nowiki> 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 <nowiki>|</nowiki> ʊnt ʃoːnaːx ˈveːnɪɡŋ̍ aʊɡŋ̍ˈblɪkŋ̍ tsoːk deːɐ̯ ˈvandəʁɐ ˈzaɪnː ˈmantl̩ aʊs ‖ daː ˈmʊstə deːɐ̯ ˈnɔɐ̯tvɪnt ˈtsuːɡeːbm̩ <nowiki>|</nowiki> das diː ˈzɔnə fɔn ˈiːnː ˈbaɪdn̩ deːɐ̯ ˈʃtɛɐ̯kəʁə vaːɐ̯]}}[50]
German: 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.
"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.