Chemnitz dialect phonology
This article is about the phonology of the Chemnitz dialect, a variety of Upper Saxon German.
Consonants
| Labial | Dental | Postalveolar | Dorsal | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||
| Plosive | aspirated | kʰ | ||||
| unaspirated | p | t | k | |||
| Fricative | f | s | ʃ | h | ||
| Approximant | ʋ | l | j | |||
| Rhotic | ʁ | |||||
- Stops and fricatives are voiceless, whereas nasals and approximants are voiced.[2] The rhotic /ʁ/ may be either voiced or voiceless, see below.
- /m, p/ are bilabial, whereas /f, ʋ/ are labiodental. /f/ - /ʋ/ do not constitute a voiceless-voiced pair.[3]
- /n, t, l, s/ are dental [n̪, t̪, l̪, s̪].[1]
- /ŋ, kʰ, k/ are velar, /χ, ʁ/ are uvular, and /j/ is palatal. /χ/ - /ʁ/ do not constitute a voiceless-voiced pair.[3]
- The /kʰ–k/ contrast is restricted to the word-initial position. In many cases, it corresponds to the /k–ɡ/ contrast in Standard German, but sometimes Upper Saxon /k/ corresponds to Standard German /k/.[5]
- /ʁ/ occurs only in onsets, and it has few possible pronunciations, which are in free variation with one another:[4]
- /p, t, k, f, s, ʃ, χ/ may be voiced between sonorants, either partially [p̬, t̬, k̬, f̬, s̬, ʃ̬, χ̬] or fully [b, d, ɡ, v, z, ʒ, ʁ].[5]
- Word-final /p, t, k/ vary between being fully voiced stops [b, d, ɡ], aspirated voiceless stops [pʰ, tʰ, kʰ] or, most commonly, unaspirated voiceless stops [p, t, k].[2]
- Word-initially, the /t–k/ contrast is neutralized before /l/, which means that e.g. the word Kleid ('dress') can be pronounced as either [tleːt] or [kleːt].[6]
- /χ/ occurs in complementary distribution with /h/; the latter can only occur syllable-initially in stressed syllables and word-initially, whereas /χ/ occurs in all other positions.[7]
- In consonant clusters, voicing and aspiration are not contrastive.[6]
- When a stop or fricative precedes, the sequences /əm, ən, əŋ, əl/ can be realized as syllabic consonants [m̩, n̩, ŋ̍, l̩]. The nasals appear depending on the place of articulation of the preceding consonant. When it is bilabial, the following syllabic nasal is bilabial [m̩]. When it is dental, the following syllabic nasal is dental [n̩]. When it is velar, the following syllabic nasal is velar [ŋ̍]. When it is the uvular fricative /χ/, the following syllabic nasal is uvular [ɴ̩].[4]
- When another nasal precedes a syllabic nasal, such sequence is realized as a single consonant, either short or (sometimes) long.[4]
- Oral consonants are commonly deleted when they occur before nasals and after long vowels.[4][which oral consonants? Stops? All of them?]
- Non-phonemic glottal stop [ʔ] is inserted in two cases:
| Phoneme | IPA | Orthography | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| /p/ | /ˈpʌsə/ | passe | '(I) pass' |
| /t/ | /ˈtʌsə/ | Tasse | 'cup' |
| /kʰ/ | /ˈkʰʌsə/ | Kasse | 'cash register' |
| /k/ | /ˈkʌsə/ | Gasse | 'lane' |
| /m/ | /tʌm/ | Damm | 'dam' |
| /n/ | /tʌn/ | dann | 'then' |
| /ŋ/ | /tʌŋ/ | Tang | 'seaweed' |
| /f/ | /fae̯n/ | fein | 'fine' |
| /s/ | /sae̯n/ | sein | 'his' |
| /ʃ/ | /ʃae̯n/ | Schein | 'shine', 'light' |
| /χ/ | /ʋʌχ/ | wach | 'awake' |
| /h/ | /hae̯n/ | Hain | 'grove' |
| /ʋ/ | /ʋɔˤː/ | war | 'was' |
| /l/ | /laɵ̯/ | lau | 'lukewarm' |
| /j/ | /jɔˤː/ | Jahr | 'year' |
| /ʁ/ | /ʁaɵ̯/ | rau | 'rough' |
Vowels
The pharyngealized vowels correspond to the sequences of vowel + /r/ in the standard language.[8]
Monophthongs
| Front | Central | Back | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| unrounded | rounded | |||||||
| short | long | short | long | short | long | |||
| Close | iː | ʉː | ʊˤː | |||||
| Close-mid | ɪ | eː | ɵ | ɵː | ||||
| Mid | ɞ | ʌˤː | oˤ | oˤː | ||||
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɛː | ʌ | ʌː | ɔˤː | |||
| Open | aˤː | |||||||
- Notes about plain vowels:
- /iː/ is close front unrounded [iː].[10]
- /ʉː/ is somewhat retracted close central rounded [ʉ̠ː].[10]
- /ɪ, eː/ are close-mid retracted front unrounded [ɪ̞, e̠ː]. /ɪ/ is more back than /eː/.[10]
- /ɵ, ɵː/ are slightly retracted close-mid central rounded [ɵ, ɵː]. The only difference between them is that /ɵː/ is very slightly more back and very slightly lower.[10]
- /ɞ/ is mid central rounded [ɞ̝].[10]
- /ɛ, ɛː/ are open-mid retracted front unrounded [ɛ̠, ɛ̠ː]. /ɛ/ is more back than /ɛː/.[10]
- /ʌ, ʌː/ are open-mid central unrounded [ɜ, ɜː]. The only difference between them is that /ʌː/ is very slightly more back.[10]
- Notes about pharyngealized vowels:
- /ʊˤː/ is near-close somewhat advanced back rounded [ʊ̠ˤː].[8]
- Phonemically, /ʊˤː/ can be analyzed as an allophone of the sequence /ʉːʁ/ (or /ʉːʕ/, if one considers /ʁ/ to be pharyngeal.)[8]
- /ʌˤː/ is mid near-back unrounded [ʌ̽ˤː].[8]
- Phonemically, /ʌˤː/ can be analyzed as an allophone of the sequence /iːʁ/ (or /iːʕ/, if one considers /ʁ/ to be pharyngeal.)[8]
- /oˤ, oˤː/ are mid near-back rounded [o̽ˤ, o̽ˤː].[8]
- /ɔˤː/ is open-mid near-back rounded [ɔ̟ˤː].[8]
- Phonemically, /ɔˤː/ can be analyzed as an allophone of the sequence /ʌːʁ/ (or /ʌːʕ/, if one considers /ʁ/ to be pharyngeal.)[8]
- /aˤː/ is somewhat lowered open-mid near-front unrounded [ɛ̞̈ˤː].[8]
- Phonemically, /aˤː/ can be analyzed as an allophone of the sequence /eːʁ/ (or /eːʕ/, if one considers /ʁ/ to be pharyngeal.)[8]
- /ʊˤː/ is near-close somewhat advanced back rounded [ʊ̠ˤː].[8]
| Plain | Pharyngealized | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short | Long | ||||||||||
| Phoneme | IPA | Orthography | Translation | Phoneme | IPA | Orthography | Translation | Phoneme | IPA | Orthography | Translation |
| /ɪ/ | /ʋɪnt/ | Wind | 'wind' | /iː/ | /ˈpiːtn̩/ | bieten | 'to offer' | /ʌˤː/ | /ʃʌˤːm/ | Schirm | 'umbrella' |
| /ɵ/ | /ˈʋɵn(t)oˤ/ | Wunder | 'wonder' | /ʉː/ | /ˈpʉːtn̩/ | Buden | 'booths' | /ʊˤː/ | /ʃʊˤːf/ | Schurf | 'blight' |
| /ɛ/ | /ʋɛn/ | wenn | 'when', 'if' | /eː/ | /ˈpeːtn̩/ | beiden | 'both' | /aˤː/ | /ʃtaˤːm/ | sterben | 'to die' |
| /oˤ/ | /ˈʋʌsoˤ/ | Wasser | 'water' | ||||||||
| /ɞ/ | /ˈʋɞnə/ | Wonne | 'bliss' | /ɵː/ | /ˈpɵːtn̩/ | Boden | 'floor' | /oˤː/ | /ʃoˤːf/ | Schorf | 'scab' |
| /ɛː/ | /ˈpɛːtn̩/ | bäten | '(if they) requested' | ||||||||
| /ʌ/ | /ˈʋʌnə/ | Wanne | 'tub' | /ʌː/ | /ˈpʌːtn̩/ | baten | '(they) requested' | /ɔˤː/ | /ʃɔˤːf/ | scharf | 'sharp' |
Allophones
Unstressed /ɪ, ɛ, ɵ, ɞ, ʌ/ may all be reduced to [ə].[10]
[ə] is often fronted [ə̟] when utterance-final.[10]
Monophthongs are allophonically pharyngealized if a vowel in the following syllable is pharyngealized.[12] In Dresden, this also applies to consonants, as well as consonants and vowels in the syllable after the one with a pharyngealized vowel.[13]
Furthermore, monophthongs are somewhat retracted when they precede dorsals, except /j/. The retraction is strongest before /χ, ʁ/. A weaker retraction occurs when monophthongs follow a dorsal (except /j/) with, again, the strongest retraction after uvulars.[12]
/ʊˤː, oˤː, ʌˤː, ɔˤː, aˤː/ are often diphthongal [ʊːɒ̯ˤ, oːɒ̯ˤ, ɪːɒ̯ˤ, ɔːɒ̯ˤ, aːɒ̯ˤ] in careful speech. Monophthongal realizations are common before consonant clusters in syllable coda, where they are optionally shortened.[9]
Front rounded vowels
In cognates of some Standard German words, speakers fluent in Standard German occasionally produce [ʏ, yː, œ, øː], which contrast with /ɪ, iː, ɛ, eː/ as well as /ɵ, ʉː, ɞ, ɵː/, for instance Brüder [ˈpʁyːtoˤ] ('brothers'); in other cases, they are pronounced the same as /ɪ, iː, ɛ, eː/.[12]
Diphthongs
| Ending point | ||
|---|---|---|
| unrounded | rounded | |
| Mid | ɞʏ̯ | |
| Open | ae̯ | aɵ̯ |
- Notes about diphthongs:
- /ɞʏ̯/ is phonetically [ɞ̝˖ʏ]. It begins mid somewhat advanced central rounded, ends near-close near-front rounded.[8]
- /ae̯/ is phonetically [æ̠e̞]. It begins near-open near-front unrounded, ends lowered close-mid front unrounded.[8]
- /aɵ̯/ is phonetically [æ̠ɵ̞]. It begins near-open near-front unrounded, ends slightly lowered close-mid central rounded.[8]
| Phoneme | IPA | Orthography | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| /ɞʏ̯/ | /ˈlɞʏ̯tn̩/ | leuten | 'to ring' |
| /ae̯/ | /ˈlae̯tn̩/ | leiten | 'to lead' |
| /aɵ̯/ | /ˈlaɵ̯tn̩/ | lauten | 'to read' |
Sample
The sample text is a reading of the first sentence of The North Wind and the Sun.[14]
Broad phonetic transcription
[ˈeːnəs ˈtʌːχəs hʌmʃ toˤ ˈnoˤːtʋɪnt ɵnt tə ˈsɞnə kəˈtsʌŋt | ʋaˤː fɞn ˈpeːtn̩ tɛn nʉː toˤ ˈʃtaˤːkʁ̞ə ɪs | ɛls ə ˈʋʌntʁ̞oˤ mɪt nəm ˈʋɔˤːmən ˈmʌntl̩ ʌn | foˤˈpeːkʰʌːm][14]
Orthographic version (standard German)
Eines Tages haben sich der Nordwind und die Sonne gezankt, wer von den beiden denn nun der Stärkere ist, als ein Wanderer mit einem warmen Mantel an, vorbeikam.[14]
References
- ^ a b Khan & Weise (2013), p. 231.
- ^ a b c Khan & Weise (2013), p. 232.
- ^ a b Khan & Weise (2013), pp. 231–232.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Khan & Weise (2013), p. 235.
- ^ a b Khan & Weise (2013), pp. 232–233.
- ^ a b Khan & Weise (2013), p. 234.
- ^ Khan & Weise (2013), p. 233.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Khan & Weise (2013), p. 237.
- ^ a b Khan & Weise (2013), pp. 236–237.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Khan & Weise (2013), p. 236.
- ^ Khan & Weise (2013), pp. 233, 236–237.
- ^ a b c Khan & Weise (2013), p. 238.
- ^ Rues et al. (2007:97–98), cited in Khan & Weise (2013:238).
- ^ a b c Khan & Weise (2013), p. 239.
Bibliography
- Khan, Sameer ud Dowla; Weise, Constanze (2013), "Upper Saxon (Chemnitz dialect)" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (2): 231–241, doi:10.1017/S0025100313000145
- Rues, Beate; Redecker, Beate; Koch, Evelyn; Wallraff, Uta; Simpson, Adrian P. (2007), Phonetische Transkription des Deutschen (in German) (1st ed.), Narr, ISBN 978-3823362913