Pronunciation of German

The article summarizes the properties Phonétique S of the German standard ( Hochdeutsch ), which are expressed there using the International Phonetic Alphabet.

Phonetics

Vowels

The German vowel system is rich from 16 to 17 vowels and 3 diphthongs, to which are added ten phonemes of foreign origin.

Basic vowel system

The vowels go per pairs made up of a tended vowel and one slackened. One can, for example, to consider the pairs of /i ː/tended in stil /ʃtiːl/“style” and of the/ɪ/slackened in still /ʃtɪl/“calm”, or of /o ː/tended in Polen /ˈpoːlən/“Poland” and of the/ɔ/slackened in Pollen /ˈpɔlən/“pollen”, or of the/øː/tended in Höhle /ˈhøːlə/“cave” and of the/œ/slackened in Hölle /ˈhœlə/“hell”. The tended form is found in general in the long vowels and certain short vowels of foreign words. The vowel/ɛː/does not form part of such a pair being the only long vowel which is slackened. The real existence of the opposition of tension in the pair/ɑː/in Kahn “boat” and /a/ in kann “can” is refuted by many linguists for whom it is not quˈune opposition of quantity /a ː/vs. /a/.

The Schwa is regarded belonging to the system of the German vowels by some linguists, but as an allophone of/ɛ/in the syllables not accentuated by others. Certain varieties of German do not have, but only, often in standard German in Switzerland or the traditional Chant.

/r/ postvocalic is often vocalized, especially after the long vowels and in the termination/ər/, less often after the short vowels, for example to wir “us”, Messer “knife”, Wirt “tavernier”. As certain varieties do not have this vocalization, for example the standard prescriptivist according to Theodor Siebs, or standard German in Switzerland, is normally regarded as an allophone of /r/.

A characteristic morpho-phonetics of the German system is the alternation of the pairs of vowels has /a ː - has in ä /ɛː - ɛ/, O /o ː - ɔ/in ö /øː - œ/, and U /u ː - ʊ/in U /y ː - ʏ/. This alternation results primarily from morphology, for example prétérite ich war “I was” vs. subjunctive passed ich wäre “I was” or singular plural Mutter “mother” vs. Mütter “mothers”).

The nasal ones (in), (year), (one) and (one) are imported of French. They have tendency to dénasaliser in the slackened pronunciation, for example/ˈtɛŋ/instead of/ˈtɛ̃/for Teint .

Diphthongs

The diphthongs belonging to the German vowel system are closing and three: /a ɪ/( I.E.(internal excitation) and have ), /a ʊ/( with the ) and/ɔʏ/( have and äu ).

A certain number of diphthongs, opening or closing, are imported of English (e.g. Know-how, Aids).

If /r/ is vocalized, the number of the diphthongs multiplies.

Consonants

Notes:

, the Glottal stop does not correspond to any written character. For example, Anne decides. It misses in the pronunciations of the south and consequently is often not regarded as belonging to the system of the German vowels.
/j/ is classified, according to the authors, like a spirante or fricative.
/r/ has many pronunciations possible: (vibrating alveolar rolled, for example in Swiss pronunciation ), (vibrating uvular rolled, for example in Austrian pronunciation ) and (fricative uvular); postvocalic, it is often vocalized producing, in particular after the long vowels and in the termination/ər/, pronounced.

Syllables

Tonic accent

The tonic Accent German is a tonic stress; it can be primary or secondary (of less intensity). Its position obeys the principal following rules (there exist however irregularities):

the tonic Accent often falls on the first Syllabe from the radical ;
all /e/ “dumb man” is necessarily dull;
the addition of a Suffix or a Désinence does not modify, in general, the position of the tonic accent (for example leiden ~ Leidenschaft ). Certain suffixes, often of foreign origin, carry the tonic accent however: - Abel / - ibel , - old , - and / - ant / anz , - är , - At , - I.E.(internal excitation) , - or / - euse , - ier , - ität , - iv , bone , ös , - nell , - ur ;
one will note that certain prefixes are accentuated: the separable verbal particles are it as well as the nominal prefixes erz- , miß- / miss , um- and a . The verbal separable particles are dull (of which miss , except when its direction is purely pejorative);
in the made up words, the radical of the crucial factor (1st term) generally carries the principal accent, that of the element or the given elements a secondary accent.

Writing

The German pronunciation results in good approximation from the writing, except notable for that of the Fremdwörter (words of foreign origin).

Consonants

A series of several Consonne S can be used to transcribe only one its. It is the case:

of the double consonants, which are marked like the simple consonants: tt like T , tz like Z , ck like K ;
of CH , dt , HT , pH , dsch and sch .

If the letters in question belong to two words different from a Kompositum (made up word), they decide separately:

simple word: Ri' ng ;

made up word: U ng' ern .

Vowels

The vowels are short or long. The short ones are slackened while the long ones are tended (vocalic cf Tension).

The consonants can be redoubled with the writing to indicate that the preceding Voyelle is short but there do not exist long consonants. The vowels can also be followed by a H diacritic ( Dehnungs-h ) to indicate that they are long. It will be retained that, in a Syllabe, a vowel is generally long when it is

last letter,
followed by only one consonant,

and always long when

redoubled,
followed by a H diacritic.

In the words of only one syllable, the vowel is generally long. There exist exceptions.

The list below gives the pronunciation of the vowels and the diphthongs. When a short version and a long version coexist, the short one is listed in first. ; has
; have ; with ; ay ; ä
; äu ; E

when it is dull ; I.E.(internal excitation) ; have ; ey ; I
; IE ; O
; ö
; U
; U
; there

Pronunciation of the Fremdwörter

The loanwords are generally pronounced according to their pronunciation in their source language. The phonetic characteristics most current relate to the letters or following groups of letters:

; has in English words ( Jobsharing ) ; have, board, has, I.E.(internal excitation), and or in French words ( Portemonnaie ) ; year, in in words of French origin ( balancieren )
in words of French origin ( Balance ) ; CH in words of French origin ( Chauvi )
in words of Spanish origin ( macho ) ; dsch in the transcription of words Arab, Russian, etc ( Falludscha ) ; have or in words of French origin ( Friseur ) ; in, Ain, ein in words of French origin ( Interior )
in words of French origin ( Satin ) ; oi in words of English origin ( Joint )
in words of French origin ( the Loire ) ; one in words of French origin ( Molten )
in words of French origin ( Funds ) ; or in words of English origin ( Blackout )
in words of French origin ; ow in words of English origin ( Show ) ; HT in words of English origin ( Thriller ) ; v in words of foreign origin ( Bank , Joint-venture ) ; there in words of English origin ( Style )

Note: the popular pronunciation tends to remove the nasal Frenchwomen.

Related orthographical difficulties

Following ambiguities will be noted:

can be written äu or have ;
can be written ä or E ;
can be written F , v or pH in the loanwords;
in a certain number of words the short vowels are followed, contrary to the rule, by a simple consonant.

The traditional orthography thus conceals some fit-trap doors, including among the of the same words family whose radical knows several C-Ws communication:

verbleuen ~ blau ;
aufwendig ~ Aufwand ;
Photography ~ Foto ;
plazieren ~ Platz ;
Tip ~ tippen .

The German spelling reform relized in 1998 removed a good part of these ambiguities.

A Glottal stop begins the German words starting with a vowel including inside a made up word. The glottal stop does not exist in German of the south. For example, decide differently:

vereisen (“to freeze”);
verreisen (“to leave on a journey”).

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