German phonology describes the phonology of Standard German. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a system of phonetic notation devised by linguists to accurately and uniquely represent each of the wide variety of sounds (phones or phonemes) used in spoken human language. ... Phonetic (pho-NET-ic) is a nationwide voicemail-to-text messaging service available for most digital mobile phones in which a subscriber is provided a custom voice mailbox for the purpose of receiving all incoming voice messages as actual transcribed text for reading via short messaging (also known as SMS... Due to technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... This is a concise version of the International Phonetic Alphabet for English sounds. ... The vowels of modern (Standard) Arabic and (Israeli) Hebrew from the phonological point of view. ... German (called Deutsch in German; in German the term germanisch is equivalent to English Germanic), is a member of the western group of Germanic languages and is one of the worlds major languages. ...

Since German is a pluricentric language, there are a number of different pronunciations of standard German which however agree in most respects. A pluricentric language is a language with several standard versions. ...

Vowels

1. Short [i y u e ø o] occur only in unstressed syllables of loanwords, for instance in Psychometrie [psyçomeˈtriː] 'psychometry'. They are usually considered complementary allophones together with their long counterparts which cannot occur in unstressed syllables.
2. The schwa [ə] occurs only in unstressed syllables, for instance in besetzen [bəˈzɛt͡sən] 'occupy'. It is often considered a complementary allophone together with [ɛ] which cannot occur in unstressed syllables. If a sonorant follows in the syllable coda, the schwa often disappears so that the sonorant becomes syllabic, for instance Kissen [ˈkʰɪsn̩] 'pillow', Esel [ˈeːzl̩] 'donkey', besser [ˈbɛsr̩] 'better'. Note that the syllabic [r̩] is realized as [ɐ] in many varieties, for instance besser [ˈbɛsɐ] 'better'.
3. The long open-mid front unrounded vowel [ɛː] is merged with the close-mid front unrounded vowel [eː] in many varieties of standard German, so that, for example, Ähre [ɛːrə] 'ear' (of wheat, etc.) and Ehre [eːrə] 'honour' are homonyms for many speakers.
4. The open vowels [a] and [aː] are free allophones together with [ɑ] and [ɑː], respectively.

The vowels are often analyzed according to a tenseness contrast, /i y u e ø o/ being the tense vowels and /ɪ ʏ ʊ ɛ œ ɔ/ their lax counterparts. Like the English checked vowels, the German lax vowels require to be followed by a consonant, with the notable exception of [ɛː] (which is however absent in many varieties). In order to apply the division into pairs of tense and lax to all German vowels, [a] is sometimes considered the lax counterpart of tense [aː]. Vowels Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... Exolabial and endolabial [ʏ] in Swedish. ... Exolabial and endolabial [ʏ] in Swedish. ... In linguistics, vowel length is the duration of a vowel sound. ... In linguistics, vowel length is the duration of a vowel sound. ... A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. ... -1... A close-mid vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... A mid vowel is a vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... The open-mid vowels make a class of vowel sounds used in some spoken languages. ... An open vowel is a vowel sound of a type used in most spoken languages. ... A loanword (or a borrowing) is a word taken in by one language from another. ... In phonetics, an allophone is one of several similar phones that belong to the same phoneme. ... Vowels Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... In phonetics and phonology, a sonorant is a member of a class of speech sounds that are continuants produced without turbulent airflow in the vocal tract. ... Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ... Vowels Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Vowels Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Tenseness is a term used in phonology to describe a particular vowel quality that is phonemically contrastive in many languages, including English. ... In English phonetics and phonology, checked vowels are those that must be followed by a consonant in a stressed syllable, while free vowels are those that may stand in a stressed open syllable with no following consonant. ...

Diphthongs

The German diphthongs are /a͡ɪ a͡ʊ ɔ͡ʏ/, for instance in Ei /a͡ɪ/ 'egg', Sau /za͡ʊ/ 'sow', neu /nɔ͡ʏ/ 'new', Säule /ˈzɔ͡ʏlə/ 'column'. Occasionally, they are transcribed as /a͡e a͡o ɔ͡ø/.

Marginally, there occur some more diphthongs, for instance [ʊɪ̯] in interjections such as pfui [p͡fʊɪ̯], and in loanwords, among others, [œɪ̯ ɔʊ̯ ɛɪ̯ o̯a] as in Feuilleton [fœɪ̯ˈtɔ̃], Homepage [ˈhɔʊ̯mˌpʰɛɪ̯d͡ʒ], Croissant [kro̯aˈsɑ̃]. It is debated whether such diphthongs should be considered phonemes of the German language or not. It has been suggested that Discourse particle be merged into this article or section. ... A loanword is a word directly taken into one language from another with little or no translation. ...

In the varieties where /r/ vowelizes to [ɐ] in the syllable coda (see below), a diphthong ending in [ɐ̯] may be formed with virtually every vowel.

Consonants

With approximately 25 phonemes, the German consonant system exhibits an average number of consonants in comparison with other languages. One of the more noteworthy ones is the unusual affricate /p͡f/. An affricate is a consonant that begins like a stop (most often an alveovelar, such as [t] or [d]) and that doesnt have a release of its own, but opens directly into a fricative (or, in one language, into a trill). ...

1. In the northern varieties, [ʔ] occurs before word stems with initial vowel. It is often not considered a phoneme, but an optional boundary mark of word stems.
2. [d͡ʒ] and [ʒ] occur only in words of foreign origin. In certain varieties, they are replaced by [t͡ʃ] and [ʃ] altogether.
3. [ç] and [x] are complementary allophones after front vowels and back vowels. For a more detailed analysis see below at ich-Laut and ach-Laut.
4. [r], [ʁ] and [ʀ] are free allophones of each other. [r] is used only in Southern varieties. In the syllable coda, the allophone [ɐ] is used in many varieties, except in the South-West.
5. According to some analysis, [χ] is an allophone of [x] after /a aː/ and according to some also after /ʊ ɔ a͡ʊ/.
6. Some phonologists deny the phoneme /ŋ/ and use /nɡ/ instead, and /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. Example:
   • diphthong /dɪftɔnɡ/ [dɪftɔŋ] : diphthongieren /dɪftɔnɡirən/ [dɪftɔŋɡiːʁn̩]
   • Englisch /ɛnɡlɪʃ/ [ɛŋlɪʃ] : Anglo /anɡlo/ [aŋɡlo]
   • Ganges /ɡanɡəs/ [ɡaŋəs] ~ /ɡanɡɛs/ [ɡaŋɡɛs]

The voiceless stops /t/, /p/, /k/ are aspirated except when preceded by a sibilant. The obstruents /b d ɡ z ʒ/ are voiceless [b̥ d̥ ɡ̊ z̥ ʒ̊] in the Southern varieties. In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. ... In phonetics, labiodentals are consonants articulated with the lower lips and the upper teeth, or viceversa. ... Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets) of the superior teeth. ... Postalveolar (or palato-alveolar) consonants are consonants articulated with the tip of the tongue between the alveolar ridge (the place of articulation for alveolar consonants) and the palate (the place of articulation for palatal consonants). ... Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth). ... Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum). ... Uvulars are consonants articulated with the back of the tongue against or near the uvula, that is, further back in the mouth than velar consonants. ... Glottal consonants are consonants articulated with the glottis. ... A stop or plosive or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. ... Affricate consonants begin like stops (most often an alveolar, such as or ), but release as a fricative such as or (or, a couple languages, into a fricative trill) rather than directly into the following vowel. ... A nasal consonant is produced when the velum—that fleshy part of the palate near the back—is lowered, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. ... Fricatives (or spirants) are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. ... Approximants are speech sounds that could be regarded as intermediate between vowels and typical consonants. ... Liquid consonants, or liquids, are approximant consonants that are not classified as semivowels (glides) because they do not correspond phonetically to specific vowels (in the way that, for example, the initial in English yes corresponds to ). The class of liquids can be divided into lateral liquids and rhotics. ... Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ... In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies the release of some obstruents. ... A sibilant is a type of fricative, made by speeding up air through a narrow channel and directing it over the sharp edge of the teeth. ...

Ich-Laut and ach-Laut

The term ich-Laut refers to the voiceless palatal fricative [ç], the term ach-Laut to the voiceless velar fricative [x]. In German, these two sounds are allophones. The allophone [x] occurs after back vowels and /a aː/ (for instance in Buch [buːx] ‘book’), the allophone [ç] after front vowels (for instance in ich [ɪç] ‘I’) and consonants (for instance in Furcht [fʊrçt] ‘fear’) (Kohler 1977, 1990; Wiese 1996: 210). The voiceless palatal fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ... The voiceless velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. ... In phonetics, an allophone is one of several similar phones that belong to the same phoneme. ...

In the onset of stressed syllables (loanwords only), the pronunciation varies: In the Northern varieties of standard German, it is [ç], in Southern varieties, it is [kʰ] (for instance in China: [ˈçiːna] vs. [ˈkʰiːna]). A loanword is a word directly taken into one language from another with little or no translation. ...

The diminutive suffix -chen is always pronounced with an ich-Laut [-çən]. Usually, this ending triggers umlaut (compare for instance Hund 'dog' to Hündchen ‘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 Frauchen [ˈfra͡ʊçən] ‘female dog master’ (a diminutive of Frau ‘woman’), so that a back vowel is followed by [ç], even though normally it would be followed by a [x], as in rauchen [ˈraʊxən] ‘to smoke’. There is even a minimal pair for [ç] and [x] due to this effect: [kuːçən] Kuhchen ‘little cow’ vs. [kuːxən] Kuchen ‘cake’. Some explain this contradiction to the allophonic distribution as a morphemic boundary effect. However, many phoneticians believe that this is an example of phonemicization, where erstwhile allophones undergo a split into separate phonemes. A diminutive is a formation of a word used to convey a slight degree of the root meaning, smallness of the object named, intimacy, or endearment. ... Suffix has meanings in linguistics, nomenclature and computer science. ... In linguistics, the process of umlaut (from German um- around + Laut sound) is a modification of a vowel which causes it to be pronounced more similarly to a vowel or semivowel in a following syllable. ... Phonemic differentiation is the phenomenon of a phoneme in a language splitting into two phonemes over time, a process known as a phonemic split. ...

An allophonic distribution of [ç] after front vowels and [x] after other vowels is a common one, and can be heard also in Scots, in the pronunciation of light. However, it is by no means inevitable: Dutch, many Southern German dialects, as well as Yiddish, which comes from one of them, retain [x] in all positions. It is thus reasonable to assume that Old High German ih, the ancestor of modern ich, was pronounced with [x] rather than [ç]. And while it is impossible to know for certain whether Old English words such as niht (modern night) were pronounced with [x] or [ç], [ç] is likely (see Old English phonology#Consonant allophones). Scots or Lallans (Eng: Lowlands), sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from the Gaelic language of the Highlands, is a West Germanic language used in Scotland, parts of Northern Ireland, and border areas of the Republic of Ireland, where it is known in official circles as Ulster Scots or... Yiddish (Yid. ... The term Old High German (OHG, German: Althochdeutsch) refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. ... Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon) is an early form of the English language that was spoken in parts of what is now England and southern Scotland between the mid-fifth century and the mid-twelfth century. ... The phonology of Old English is necessarily somewhat speculative, since it is preserved purely as a written language. ...

Despite the phonetic history, the complementary distribution of [ç] and [x] in modern Standard German is better described as backing of /ç/ after a back vowel, rather than fronting of /x/ after a front vowel, because [ç] is considered basic as in an onset (Chemie [çemiː]) and after a consonant (Molch [mɔlç]).

According to certain analysis, the German ach-Laut is further differentiated into two allophones, [x] and [χ]. Some say that [x] occurs after /uː oː/ (for instance in Buch [buːx] ‘book’) and [χ] after /ʊ ɔ a aː a͡ʊ/ (for instance in Bach [baχ] ‘brook’), others say that [x] occurs after /uː oː ʊ ɔ a͡ʊ/ and [χ] after /a aː/.

Fortis-lenis pairs

Various German consonants occur in pairs at the same place of articulation and in the same manner of articulation, namely the pairs /p-b/, /t-d/, /k-g/, /s-z/, /ʃ-ʒ/. These pairs are often called fortis-lenis pairs, since describing them as voiced/voiceless pairs is inadequate. With certain qualifications, /t͡ʃ-d͡ʒ, f-v/ are also considered fortis-lenis pairs.

The fortis plosives /p, t, k/ are aspirated in most varieties (exceptions include Bavarian-Austrian varieties). The aspiration is strongest in the onset of a stressed syllable (such as Taler [tʰɑːlər]), weaker in the onset of an unstressed syllable (such as Vater [fɑːtʰər]), and weakest in the syllable coda (such as in Saat [zɑːtʰ]).

The lenis consonants /b, d, ɡ, z, ʒ/ are voiceless in most southern varieties of German. For clarity, they are often transcribed 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 most varieties of German, the opposition between fortis and lenis is nullified in the syllable coda, due to terminal devoicing (Auslautverhärtung). A few southern varieties of German, such as Swiss German, present an exception to this. The introduction of this article does not provide enough context for readers unfamiliar with the subject to understand later context. ...

In various central and southern varieties, the opposition between fortis and lenis is also nullified in the syllable onset; sometimes just in the onset of stressed syllables, sometimes in all cases.

The pair /f-v/ is not considered a fortis-lenis pair, as /v/ remains voiced in all varieties, included the Southern varieties that devoice the lenes. Generally, the southern /v/ is realized as the voiced approximant [ʋ]. However there are southern varieties which differentiate between a fortis /f/ (such as in sträflich [ˈʃtrɛːflɪç] from Middle High German stræflich) and a lenis /f/ ([v̥], such as in höflich [ˈhøːv̥lɪç] from Middle High German hovelîch); this is analogous to the opposition of fortis /s/ ([s]) and lenis [z̥]. However, /f-v/ does form a voiceless/voiced pair, as in brav [bʁaːf] and brave [bʁaːvə]. Approximants are speech sounds that could be regarded as intermediate between vowels and typical consonants. ... Middle High German (MHG, German Mittelhochdeutsch) is the term used for the period in the history of the German language between 1050 and 1350. ...

Stress

The first syllable of German words receives stress, with the following exceptions: In linguistics, stress is the emphasis given to some syllables (often no more than one in each word, but in many languages, long words have a secondary stress a few syllables away from the primary stress, as in the words cóunterfòil or còunterintélligence. ...

• Words beginning with be-, ge-, er-, ver-, zer-, ent-, emp- and a few others receive stress on the second syllable.
• Compound adverbs, with her, hin, da, or wo as their first syllable part, receive stress on their second syllable.
• Many loanwords, especially proper names, keep their original stress.
• In compound words, the most important part is stressed: umfahren [umˈfaːʁən] (to drive around) vs. umfahren [ˈumfaːʁən] (to knock over).

Generally speaking, the root-syllable is stressed (Stammsilbenbetonung). A loanword is a word directly taken into one language from another with little or no translation. ...

Historical sound changes

The Middle High German vowel pairs [ei]/[iː] and [ou]/[uː] have merged to [ai] and [au] respectively in modern standard German, although many dialects retain the distinction. For example, while heiß 'hot' (MHG heiz) and Eis 'ice' (MHG îs) rhyme in the standard language, they do not in the Austro-Bavarian dialects (hoaß/äis) and in the Alemannic German dialects (heiß/iis), nor in the Yiddish language (heys/ayz), also a descendant of Middle High German. Middle High German (MHG, German Mittelhochdeutsch) is the term used for the period in the history of the German language between 1050 and 1350. ... A standard language (also standard dialect or standardized dialect) is a particular variety of a language that has been given either legal or quasi-legal status. ... Á á É é Í í Ó ó Ú ú À à È è ÃŒ ì Ã’ ò Ù ù  â Ê ê ÃŽ î Ô ô Û û Ä ä Ë ë Ï ï Ö ö Ãœ ü ß Ã ã Ñ ñ Õ õ Ç ç Ä¢ Ä£ Ķ Ä· Ä» ļ Å… ņ Å– Å— Åž ÅŸ Å¢ Å£ Ć ć Ĺ ĺ Ń Å„ Å” Å• Åš Å› Ý ý Ź ź Đ Ä‘ Å® ů ÄŒ č ÄŽ ď Ľ ľ Ň ň Ř Å™ Å  Å¡ Ť Å¥ Ž ž Ǎ ÇŽ Äš Ä› Ǐ ǐ Ç‘ Ç’ Ç“ Ç” Ä€ ā Ä’ Ä“ Ī Ä« ÅŒ ō Ū Å« Ç– ǘ Çš Çœ Ĉ ĉ Äœ ĝ Ĥ Ä¥ Ä´ ĵ Åœ ŝ Å´ ŵ Ŷ Å· Ä‚ ă Äž ÄŸ Ŭ Å­ ÄŠ Ä‹ Ä– Ä— Ä  Ä¡ Ä° ı Å» ż Ä„ Ä… Ę Ä™ Ä® į Ų ų Ł Å‚ Ő Å‘ Å° ű Ä¿ Å€ Ħ ħ Ð ð Þ þ Å’ Å“ Æ æ Ø ø Ã… Ã¥ Ə É™ – — … [] [[]] {{}} ~ | ° § → # ≈ ± − × ¹ ² ³ ‘ “ ’ ” ¢ £ € Â¥ Α α Î’ β Γ γ Δ δ Ε ε Ζ ζ Η η Θ θ Ι ι Κ κ Λ λ Îœ μ Ν ν Ξ ξ Ο ο Π Ï€ Ρ ρ Σ σ Ï‚ Τ Ï„ Î¥ Ï… Φ φ Χ χ Ψ ψ Ω ω ʈ É– ÉŸ É¡ É¢ Ê¡ Ê” ɸ ʃ Ê’ É• Ê‘ Ê‚ ʐ ʝ É£ ʁ Ê• Êœ Ê¢ ɦ ɱ ɳ ɲ Å‹ É´ Ê‹ ɹ É» É° Ê™ Ê€ ɾ ɽ É« ɬ É® ɺ É­ ÊŽ ÊŸ É¥ ʍ ɧ É“ É— Ê„ É  Ê› ʘ Ç€ ǃ Ç‚ ǁ ɨ ʉ ɯ ɪ ʏ ÊŠ ɘ ɵ ɤ Éš É› Éœ ɝ Éž ÊŒ É” ɐ ɶ É‘ É’ Ê° Ê· ʲ Ë  ˤ ⁿ Ë¡ ˈ ËŒ ː Ë‘ ... Alemannic German (Alemannisch) is a group of dialects of the Upper German branch of the Germanic language family. ... Yiddish (Yid. ...

Phonemic mergers

A merger found in many accents of German is that of /ɛː/ (spelled ä(h)) with /eː/ (spelled e, ee, or eh). Some speakers merge the two everywhere, some distinguish them everywhere, others keep /ɛː/ distinct only in conditional forms of strong verbs (for example they distinguish ich gäbe 'I would give' vs. ich gebe 'I give', but not Bären 'bears' vs. Beeren 'berries'). The conditional mood (sometimes described as the conditional tense) is a verb form in many languages, in which a verb root is modified to form verb tenses, moods, or aspects expressing degrees of certainty or uncertainty and hypothesis about past, present, or future. ... A strong inflection is a system of verb conjugation or noun/adjective declension which can be contrasted with an alternative system in the same language, which is then known as a weak inflection. ... A verb is a part of speech that usually denotes action (bring, read), occurrence (decompose, glitter), or a state of being (exist, stand). Depending on the language, a verb may vary in form according to many factors, possibly including its tense, aspect, mood and voice. ...

Another common merger is that of /ɡ/ at the end of a syllable with /ç/ (after a front vowel) or, less commonly, /x/ (after a back vowel or /a/). In the case of the ending -ig, this pronunciation is prescribed by the Siebs standard, for instance wichtig [ˈvɪçtɪç]. The merger occurs neither in Austro-Bavarian German and Alemannic German nor in the corresponding varieties of standard German. Subdivisions Northern Austro-Bavarian Central Austro-Bavarian Southern Austro-Bavarian Austro-Bavarian or Bavarian is an Upper Germanic language. ... Alemannic German (Alemannisch) is a group of dialects of the Upper German branch of the Germanic language family. ...

References

• Duden. Aussprachewörterbuch. Dudenverlag: Mannheim/Leipzig/Wien/Zürich (2005). ISBN 3-411-04064-5
• Kohler, Klaus J. (1977). Einführung in die Phonetik des Deutschen. Berlin: E. Schmidt.
• Kohler, Klaus J. (1990). German. Journal of the International Phonetic Association 20:48–50.
• Siebs, Theodor. (1898). Deutsche Bühnensprache. Cologne: Ahn.
• Wiese, Richard. (1996). The Phonology of German. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-824040-6.