← Back

Alphabet & Pronunciation

German alphabet, umlauts, ß, vowel length and key pronunciation rules
Phonologie: Vokalsystem des Deutschen
Phonology: German vowel system
16 vowel phonemes incl. long/short pairs
Tense (long) vs lax (short) vowel contrasts
Auslautverhärtung systematisch
Final devoicing systematically
Tag→[tahk], lieb→[leep], Weg→[vehk]
All final lenis obstruents become fortis
ich-Laut vs ach-Laut: Verteilung
ich-sound vs ach-sound: distribution
ich [ç] after front vowels; ach [x] after back vowels
Allophonic distribution of /ç/ and /x/
r-Realisierungen: [ʁ], [r], [ɐ]
r-realisations: uvular, rolled, vocalised
[ʁ] standard, [ɐ] in coda
Multiple r-pronunciations across positions and regions
Reduktion: -en → silbisches [n̩]
Reduction: -en → syllabic n
haben=[ˈhaːbn̩]
Schwa elision creating syllabic consonants
Wortakzent in Fremdwörtern
Word stress in loanwords
Studént, Univer-si-TÄT
Loanwords often stress final syllable, unlike native words
Satzakzent und Fokus
Sentence stress and focus
ICH war das (not someone else)
Contrastive stress shifts focus
Intonation: Aussage vs Frage
Intonation: statement vs question
falling vs rising contour
Yes/no questions rise; statements and wh-questions fall
Regionale Aussprache: Nord vs Süd
Regional pronunciation: North vs South
st-: [ʃt] vs [st] in some regions
Major north-south pronunciation differences
Österreichisches/Schweizer Deutsch
Austrian/Swiss German pronunciation
Grüß Gott, Chuchichäschtli
Standard varieties differ in sounds and vocabulary