Vowels
editCzech vowels
Front | Central | Back | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
unrounded | rounded | |||||||
short | long | short | long | short | long | short | long | |
Close | ɪ | iː | ʏ | (yː) | ʊ | uː | ||
Mid | ɛ | eː | œ | øː | ɔ | oː | ||
Open | a | (aː) |
Consonants
editAspiration
editIn the standard dialect, the voiceless plosive and affricate phonemes p t ť k c č are normally postaspirated as [pʰ tʰ cʰ kʰ t͡sʰ t͡ʃʰ] if they occur at the beginning of a morpheme, but are never postaspirated in the non-initial position within a morpheme and are instead pronounced [p t c k t͡s t͡ʃ]. In particular, this makes the consonant pairs p/b and t/d homophones between vowels within a morpheme, though b and d tend not to occur in this position in Icelandic words inherited from Old Norse anyway. The aspiration does not always completely disappear, though:
- Geminated sequences pp tt kk within a morpheme become preaspirated [hp ht hk].
- Any of the sequences pn pl tn tl kn kl after a vowel within a morpheme become preaspirated [hpn hpl htn htl hkn hkl].
- In the sequences mp nt nk rk rp rt lp lt lk ðk within a morpheme, the second consonant is not postaspirated, but the first consonant becomes voiceless as another form of prespiration, resulting in [m̥p n̥t ŋ̊k r̥p r̥t r̥k l̥p l̥t l̥k θk].
R
edit- /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].[1]
- /t, d, l, n/ can be apical alveolar [t̺, d̺, l̺, n̺],[2][3][4][5] laminal alveolar [t̻, d̻, l̻, n̻][2][6][7] or laminal denti-alveolar [t̪, d̪, l̪, n̪].[2][8][9][10] The other possible pronunciation of /d/ that has been reported to occur in unstressed intervocalic positions is retroflex [ɖ].[11] Austrian German often uses the laminal denti-alveolar articulation.
- /l/ is always clear [l], as in most Irish English accents. A few Austrian accents may use a velarized [ɫ] instead, but that is considered non-standard.
- In the Standard Austrian variety, /k/ may be affricated to [kx] before front vowels.[12]
- /ts, s, z/ can be laminal alveolar [t̻s̻, s̻, z̻],[13][14][15] laminal post-dental [t̪s̪, s̪, z̪][13][15] (i.e. fronted alveolar, articulated with the blade of the tongue just behind upper front teeth),[13] or even apical alveolar [t̺s̺, s̺, z̺].[13][14][15] Austrian German often uses the post-dental articulation. /s, z/ are always strongly fricated.[16]
- /tʃ, dʒ, ʃ, ʒ/ are strongly labialized palato-alveolar sibilants [tʃʷ, dʒʷ, ʃʷ, ʒʷ].[17][18][19] /ʃ, ʒ/ are fricated more weakly than /s, z/.[20] There are two variants of these sounds:
- Laminal,[17][19] 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.[17]
- Apico-laminal,[17][18][19] 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.[17] According to Morciniec & Prędota (2005) , this variant is used more frequently.[19]
- /r/ has a number of possible realizations:
- Voiced apical coronal trill [r̺],[21][22][23] either alveolar (articulated with the tip of the tongue against the alveolar ridge),[21][22][23] or dental (articulated with the tip of the tongue against the back of the upper front teeth).[21]
- 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].[24]
- Voiced uvular trill [ʀ],[21][22][25][26] which can be realized as voiceless [ʀ̥] after voiceless consonants (as in treten).[22] According to Lodge (2009) it is often a tap [ʀ̆] intervocalically (as in Ehre).[27]
- 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.[29]
- Morciniec & Prędota (2005) describe it as voiced post-velar fricative [ʁ̟].[30]
- Mangold (2005) and Kohler (1999) describe it as voiced uvular fricative [ʁ];[21][31]
- 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."[21]
- 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.[32]
- Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996) describe it as a uvular fricative [ʁ] or approximant [ʁ̞]. The latter is less likely to occur word-initially.[33]
- 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.[30]
- Distribution: Widespread, but less common in Switzerland.
- Voiced apical coronal trill [r̺],[21][22][23] either alveolar (articulated with the tip of the tongue against the alveolar ridge),[21][22][23] or dental (articulated with the tip of the tongue against the back of the upper front teeth).[21]
- The voiceless stops /p/, /t/, /k/ are 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,[34] and neither are any other consonants besides the aforementioned /p, t, k/.[34]
- The obstruents /b, d, ɡ, z, ʒ, dʒ/ are voiceless lenis [b̥, d̥, ɡ̊, z̥, ʒ̊, d̥ʒ̊] in southern varieties, and they contrast with voiceless fortis [p, t, k, s, ʃ, tʃ].
- In Austria, intervocalic /b, d, ɡ/ can be lenited to fricatives [β, ð, ɣ].[12][35]
- 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 [ŋ˖, k̟, ɡ˖].[36][37] According to Wiese (1996) , in a parallel process, /k, ɡ/ before and after back vowels (/ʊ, uː, ɔ, oː/ and, in varieties that realize them as back, /a/ and/or /aː/) are retracted to post-velar [k̠, ɡ˗] or even uvular [q, ɢ].[36]
- There is no complete agreement about the nature of /j/; it has been variously described as a fricative [ʝ],[38][39][40] a fricative, which can be fricated less strongly than /ç/,[41] a sound variable between a weak fricative an approximant[42] and an approximant [j],[31][43] which is the usual realization in the Standard Austrian variety.[43]
- In many varieties of standard German, the glottal stop, [ʔ], occurs in careful speech before word stems that begin with a vowel. 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[44] accept none, some accept all but /dʒ/, and some[45] accept all.
- Although [tʃ] occurs in native words, it only appears in historic clusters of /t/ + /ʃ/ (e.g. deutsch < OHG diutisc) or in words with expressive quality (e.g. glitschen, hutschen). [tʃ] is, however, well-established in loanwords, including German 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 /x/ after /a, aː/ and according to some also after /ʊ, ɔ, aʊ̯/.[46][12] However, according to Moosmüller, Schmid & Brandstätter (2015) , the uvular allophone is used after /ɔ/ only in the Standard Austrian variety.[12]
- Some phonologists do not posit a separate phoneme /ŋ/ and use /nɡ/ instead,[47] 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.[48] For example:
- Diphthong /dɪfˈtɔnɡ/ [dɪfˈtɔŋ]
- diphthongieren /dɪftɔnˈɡiːʁən/ [ˌdɪftɔŋˈɡiːʁən]
- Englisch /ˈɛnɡlɪʃ/ [ˈɛŋlɪʃ]
- Anglo /ˈanɡloː/ [ˈaŋɡloː]
- Ganges /ˈɡanɡəs/ [ˈɡaŋəs] ~ /ˈɡanɡɛs/ [ˈɡaŋɡɛs]
- ^ Mangold (2005:45)
- ^ a b c Mangold (2005:47, 49)
- ^ Krech et al. (2009:94, 96) . According to this source, only /l, n/ can be apical alveolar.
- ^ Morciniec & Prędota (2005:51–52, 84) . According to this source, only /t, n/ can be apical alveolar.
- ^ See the x-ray tracing of /l/ in Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:184) , based on data from Wängler (1961) .
- ^ Krech et al. (2009:90, 94, 96)
- ^ Morciniec & Prędota (2005:51–52, 84) . According to this source, only /t, n/ can be laminal alveolar.
- ^ Krech et al. (2009:90) . According to this source, only /t, d/ can be laminal denti-alveolar.
- ^ Morciniec & Prędota (2005:51–52, 59, 78, 84)
- ^ See the x-ray tracing of /t/ in Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:184) , based on data from Wängler (1961) .
- ^ Hamann & Fuchs (2010:14–24)
- ^ a b c d Moosmüller, Schmid & Brandstätter (2015:341)
- ^ a b c d Mangold (2005:50, 52)
- ^ a b Krech et al. (2009:79–80) . This source talks only about /s, z/.
- ^ a b c Morciniec & Prędota (2005:65, 75) This source talks only about /s, z/.
- ^ Mangold (2005:50)
- ^ a b c d e Mangold (2005:51–52)
- ^ a b Krech et al. (2009:51–52)
- ^ a b c d Morciniec & Prędota (2005:67, 76)
- ^ Mangold (2005:51)
- ^ a b c d e f Mangold (2005:53)
- ^ a b c d Krech et al. (2009:86)
- ^ a b Morciniec & Prędota (2005:79)
- ^ 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.
- ^ Morciniec & Prędota (2005:80)
- ^ Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:225, 229)
- ^ Lodge (2009:46)
- ^ Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:225)
- ^ Krech et al. (2009:74, 85)
- ^ a b Morciniec & Prędota (2005:81)
- ^ a b Kohler (1999:86)
- ^ Kohler (1999:86–87)
- ^ Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:225, 233–234)
- ^ a b Mangold (2005:52)
- ^ Moosmüller (2007:6)
- ^ a b Wiese (1996:271)
- ^ Krech et al. (2009:49, 92, 97)
- ^ Krech et al. (2009:83–84)
- ^ Morciniec & Prędota (2005:77–78) . The authors transcribe it /j/, i.e. as an approximant.
- ^ Wiese (1996:12) . The author transcribes it /j/, i.e. as an approximant.
- ^ Mangold (2005:51) . The author transcribes it /j/, i.e. as an approximant.
- ^ Hall (2003:48) . The author transcribes it /j/, i.e. as an approximant.
- ^ a b Moosmüller, Schmid & Brandstätter (2015:340) . The authors transcribe it as /j/, i.e. as an approximant.
- ^ e.g. Kohler (1990)
- ^ e.g. Wiese (1996)
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Kohler88
was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Graefen, Gabriele; Liedke, Martina (2012). Germanistische Sprachwissenschaft: Deutsch als Erst-, Zweit- oder Fremdsprache (in German) (2nd, revised ed.). Tübingen: A. Franke. ISBN 9783825284916.
- ^ Wiese, Richard (2000). The Phonology of German. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 218–234.