The phonetic alphabet for German

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The phonetic alphabet for German
Paul Joyce Department of German
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• It is important to distinguish between the way
  in which a sound is pronounced and the way it is
  written.
• The alphabet we use when writing German and
  English turns out to be imprecise when it comes
  to describing the sounds of the two languages.

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Similar sounds, different spellings

• Take the following historically related words
• Vater German
• Father English
• Whereas the first sound of each word is spelled
  differently, their pronunciation is nonetheless
  the same.

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Similar spellings, different sounds

• Now consider the two following words
• Sand German
• Sand English
• This time, the two initial sounds are spelled
  the same, but their pronunciation is different.
• The s in the German Sand is pronounced like
  the z in the English word zoo.

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International Phonetic Alphabet

• The IPA can be used to transcribe any of the
  worlds languages.
• Thus the same sound at the beginning of Vater
  and Father is represented in the IPA by one
  phonetic symbol /f/
• But the initial sounds in Sand and Sand are
  represented by two different symbols /z/ and /s/
  respectively.

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International Phonetic Alphabet

• The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is
  made up of phonemes.
• A phoneme is defined as the minimal sound unit
  of a language or in lay persons terms a
  distinctive sound.
• IPA phonetic symbols that represent phonemes are
  usually written in slanted brackets e.g. /f/,
  /z/ and /s/

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International Phonetic Alphabet

• Being able to read the IPA is enormously helpful
  to anyone learning a language.
• Any good German-English dictionary gives not
  only translation and grammatical info about a
  word, but also its pronunciation.
• Hence V?ntilat?r shows the different German
  pronunciation to the English!

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The organs of speech
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Describing German consonants

• 3 pieces of information are used to describe
  German consonants
• Place of articulation (where in the vocal tract
  the sound is produced)
• Manner of articulation (how the air passes
  through the vocal tract)
• Voiced or voiceless?

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Plosives (or stops)

• With plosive consonants, the airstream is
  stopped as it passes through the vocal tract.
• This blockage is very brief.
• The built-up air is soon released, causing a
  small explosion.
• Try saying the following plosives
• Pein, Bein, können, Tag, Dach

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Bilabial plosives

• Bilabial sounds involve placing upper and lower
  lips together.
• The phoneme /b/ is voiced i.e. your vocal cords
  vibrate when saying Bein or Ball.
• The phoneme /p/ is unvoiced, i.e. you dont use
  your vocal cords to say Pein or Papier.

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Alveolar plosives

• Alveolar sounds are made when the tongues makes
  contact with the alveolar ridge, i.e. the part of
  the mouth immediately above the teeth.
• The phoneme /d/ is voiced i.e. your vocal
  cords vibrate when saying dein or dort.
• The phoneme /t/ is unvoiced, i.e. you dont use
  your vocal cords to say Tisch or Torte.

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Velar plosives

• Velar sounds are articulated towards the back
  of the vocal tract in the velum or soft palate.
• The phoneme /g/ is voiced your vocal cords
  vibrate on saying geht.
• The phoneme /k/ is unvoiced, i.e. you dont use
  your vocal cords to say kaum or kommt.

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Fricatives

• Fricatives are sounds produced by forcing air
  through a narrow gap in the vocal tract with
  audible friction.
• Try saying the following fricatives
• fein, wein, singen, heiß, Schnee
• New for English-speakers Loch, ich

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Labio-dental fricatives

• Labio-dental sounds involve the lips and teeth,
  creating a slight hiss.
• The phoneme /v/ is voiced your vocal cords
  vibrate on saying Wein, Wagen or Klavier.
• The phoneme /f/ is unvoiced. You dont use your
  vocal cords to say fein, Affe - and vier.

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Alveolar fricatives

• Alveolar sounds have the tip of the tongue just
  behind the top teeth.
• The phoneme /z/ is voiced i.e. your vocal
  cords vibrate when saying so, lesen or singen.
• The phoneme /s/ is unvoiced, i.e. you dont use
  your vocal cords to say heiß, muss or Szene.
• Note the different ways in which both phonemes
  can be spelled!

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Palatal-alveolar fricatives

• Palatal-alveolar sounds find the whole of the
  tongue close to or touching the hard palate.
• The phoneme /?/ is voiced i.e. your vocal
  cords vibrate when saying Genie (or the French
  loan Etage).
• The phoneme /?/ is unvoiced, i.e. you dont use
  your vocal cords to say schön, Asche or Schnee.

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Palatal fricatives

• Palatal fricatives are articulated further back
  in the mouth than palatal-alveolar sounds.
• The phoneme /j/ is voiced i.e. your vocal
  cords vibrate on saying ja, Januar, or even
  brillant.
• The phoneme /ç/ doesnt occur in English. It is
  the unvoiced sound to be found in words such as
  ich, mich leicht, Früchte and also in Chemie.

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Velar fricative /x/

• Although often spelled ch, the phoneme /x/ is
  very different to /ç/ .
• It is formed towards the back of the vocal tract
  in the soft palate and feels similar to clearing
  your throat.
• The phoneme /x/ is heard in words such as Loch,
  Buch and Lachen.

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Glottal fricatives

• The glottis is the gap between the vocal cords.
• The glottal sound /h/ is similar in German and
  English and is found in words such as Haus and
  Gehalt.
• It is different from the glottal stop that
  occurs before German vowels at the beginning of
  words or syllables i.e. twice in the term ein
  Ei.

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Affricates

• Affricates are made up of two sounds a
  fricative and a plosive
• There are two German affricates
• The voiceless phoneme /ts/ is found in words
  like zu, Zeit or Tanz.
• Dont confuse it with /z/ !
• The voiceless phoneme /pf/ is found in Apfel,
  Pfanne and Pfund.

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Nasal consonants

• Nasal consonants are produced when the airstream
  is expelled via the nasal cavity and not the oral
  tract.
• All three German nasals are voiced
• The phoneme /m/ - mein, immer
• The phoneme /n/ - nein, anders
• The hardest nasal to remember is /?/ - Ding,
  jünger, hängen

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Lateral consonants

• Lateral consonants are so called because of the
  position of the tongue.
• It curls up to touch the alveolar ridge, letting
  the air escape laterally.
• The only German lateral is /l/
• It is formed with the front of the tongue and
  found in words such as faul, Falle or viel.

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Rolls (or trills)

• Rolls are sounds that are formed when one of the
  organs of speech hits another in quick
  succession.
• This is key to German /r/ sounds.
• There are regional differences in the formation
  of this sound found in words such as rot and
  Straße.

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Describing German vowels

• Our Roman alphabet is too vague to describe
  English German vowels
• English e is pronounced very different in
  bed and below.
• The sounds represented by German o differ in
  Ofen and Offen
• Vowel length is very important here.

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The /?/ and /i/ vowel pair

• The phoneme /?/ represents the short vowel sound
  found in ich, Tisch or Mitte.
• The phoneme /i/ represents the long vowel sound
  found in the words viel, ihnen or Ziel.
• The long vowel sound is sometimes written as
  /i/ in dictionaries.

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The /?/ and /e/ vowel pair

• The phoneme /?/ represents the short vowel sound
  found in Bett, Ende or Gäste (note the spelling!)
• The phoneme /e/ represents the long vowel sound
  found in the words Regel, Schnee or Tee.
• The long vowel sound is sometimes written as
  /e/ in dictionaries.

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The /a/ and /?/ vowel pair

• The phoneme /a/ represents the short vowel sound
  found in Mann, Apfel or Hand.
• The phoneme /?/ represents the long vowel sound
  found in the words Abend, Name or kam.
• The long vowel sound is sometimes written as
  /a/ in dictionaries.

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The /?/ and /o/ vowel pair

• The phoneme /?/ represents the short vowel sound
  found in Stock, offen or Sonne.
• The phoneme /o/ represents the long vowel sound
  found in the words Ofen, ohne or Sohn.
• The long vowel sound is sometimes written as
  /o/ in dictionaries.

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The /?/ and /u/ vowel pair

• The phoneme /?/ represents the short vowel sound
  found in muss, unser or Mutter.
• The phoneme /u/ represents the long vowel sound
  found in the words Urlaub, du or gut.
• The long vowel sound is sometimes written as
  /u/ in dictionaries.

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The /Y/ and /y/ vowel pair

• The phoneme /Y/ represents the short vowel sound
  found in füllen or hübsch (note the spellings!).
• The phoneme /y/ represents the long vowel sound
  found in the words über, Bücher or kühl.
• The long vowel sound is sometimes written as
  /y/ in dictionaries.

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The // and /ø/ vowel pair

• The phoneme // represents the short vowel sound
  found in zwölf, öfters or können.
• The phoneme /ø/ represents the long vowel sound
  found in the words schön, Öl or Flöße.
• The long vowel sound is sometimes written as
  /ø/ in dictionaries.

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Quiz Short or long?

• Ofen ? Offen ?
• füllen ? fühlen ?
• bieten ? bitten ?
• Stadt ? Staat ?
• Betten ? beten ?
• spuken ? spucken ?

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Answers Short or long?

• Ofen /o/ (long) Offen /?/ (short)
• füllen /?/ (short) fühlen /y/ (long)
• bieten /i/ (long) bitten /?/ (short)
• Stadt /a/ (short) Staat /?/ (long)
• Betten /?/ (short) beten /e/ (long)
• spuken /u/ (long)
• spucken /?/ (short)

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Schwa and dark schwa

• Both of these are short vowels
• The phoneme /?/ (schwa) depicts the unstressed
  neutral vowel sound found in Gebäude and Liebe.
• The phoneme /?/ (dark schwa) represents the
  unstressed vowel sound in the words Besucher,
  Wetter or Lieber.

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Diphthongs

• The vowels seen so far consists of just one
  sound.
• They are called monophthongs.
• Diphthongs occur when two vowels merge to form
  one.
• lf you say the 2 vowels separately, you find
  yourself moving from the first vowel to the
  second.

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The 3 German diphthongs

• There are three German diphthongs
• The phoneme /a?/ appears in words such as ein,
  klein or mein.
• /a?/ is found in auf or blau.
• The phoneme /??/ appears in words such as neu,
  deutsch, but also Geräusch or läuft.
• (Schnee and Tee arent diphthongs!)