Bernese German phonology describes the phonology of Bernese German, the dialect spoken in the Swiss plateau (Mittelland) portion of the canton of Bern.
Contents |
Front | Central | Back | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
unrounded | rounded | |||
Close | i | y | u | |
Near-close | ɪ | ʏ | ʊ | |
Mid | ə | |||
Open-mid | ɛ | œ | ɔ | |
Open | æ̞ | a |
The vowel [ə] occurs only in weak unstressed syllables.
In northern Bernese German, /a/ is rounded to [ɒ] or even merged with /ɔ/.
There is a distinctive length opposition in all vowels except /ə/. Unlike in standard German, there is no interdependence of vowel length and vowel quantity.
Bernese German has seven diphthong phonemes:
The number of phonetic diphthongs and triphthongs is significantly higher, since all monophthongs (except for short /i y u ə/) and all opening diphthongs may be followed by a [w] (from vocalized /l/), for instance /ˈʃtalː/ → [ˈʃtawː] ‘stable’, /ˈʃtaːl/ → [ˈʃtaːw] ‘steel’, /ˈkfyə̯l/ → [ˈkfyə̯w] ‘feeling’.
Additionally, there are certain combinations with /j/, for instance /ˈmyə̯j/ ‘toil’ or /ˈd̥ræ̞ːjt/ ‘turns’ (from /ˈd̥ræːjə/ ‘to turn’).
In southern Bernese German (not in the city of Bern), there are no closing diphthongs, but /ɪ̞ː ʏ̞ː ʊ̞ː/ instead, for instance /ˈɣ̊lɪ̞ːd̥/ instead of /ˈɣ̊lɛ̞i̯d̥/ ‘cloth’.
In northern Bernese German, a following [w] triggers rounding of the preceding vowel, for instance [ʋʏ̞w] instead of [ʋɪ̞w] ‘because’.
Labial | Alveolar | Post alveolar |
Palatal | Velar/ Uvular |
Glottal | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||
Plosive | p – b̥ | t – d̥ | k – ɡ̊ | |||
Affricate | p͡f | t͡s | t͡ʃ | k͡x | ||
Fricative | f – v̥ | s – z̥ | ʃ – ʒ̊ | x – ɣ̊ | h | |
Approximant | ʋ | l | j | w1 | ||
Rhotic | r | ʀ2 |
Bernese German obstruents occur in pairs, as in other Alemannic varieties. These pairs are usually called fortis and lenis. They are not distinguished by voicedness, but they differ in length. A difference in tenseness is also discussed. It has not been established whether length or tenseness is the primary feature that distinguishes these pairs. Likewise, there are different possibilities of transcription. They are often transcribed with the IPA-signs for pairs of voiceless and voiced obstruents (for instance [p – b], [f – v]). In order to explicate that no voicedness is involved in the contrast, the diacritic for voicelessness may be used (for instance [p – b̥], [s – z̥]). Another possibility of transciption is the notation of the length, either with the IPA length sign (for instance [pː – p], [sː – s]) or with doubling (for instance [pp – p], [ss – s]).
In the fricatives, the opposition does not occur at the beginning of a syllable. This is similar to the length opposition that occurs in the continuants [m n l]. In the plosives, however, the opposition is not restricted with respect to syllable structure and occurs also in the syllable onset, for instance /ˈb̥axə/ ‘to bake’ vs. /ˈpaxə/ ‘baked (past participle)’ (though in order for this opposition not to be neutralized, there must be a preceding voiced sound, for instance /i ʋɔt ə ɣ̊uəɣ̊ə b̥axə/ 'I want to bake a cake' vs. /i ha nə ɣ̊uəɣ̊ə paxə/ 'I have baked a cake'). In the Northern Bernese German, however, only lenis plosives may occur at the syllable onset, so /ˈb̥axə/ ('to bake') and /ˈb̥axə/ ('baked' past participle) sound identical.
The opposition is only possible if the obstruents is surrounded by voiced sounds. If there is another adjacent voiceless sound (except /h/), then there is no opposition. Likewise, there is no length opposition in the affricates since they consist of two adjacent voiceless sounds.
Like in other Alemannic dialects, but unlike other Germanic languages, there is no interdependence of the length of a consonant with the length of the preceding vowel. Fortis consonants may occur after either long or short vowels, and lenis consonants as well:
short vowel | long vowel | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
lenis consonant | /ˈɡ̊rad̥/ | 'just now' | /ˈɡ̊raːd̥/ | 'straight' |
/ˈɔv̥ə/ | 'oven' | /ɡ̊ɔːv̥ə/ | 'kids' | |
fortis consonant | /ˈʃtat/ | 'city' | /ˈʃtaːt/ | 'state' |
/ˈafə/ | 'apes' | /ˈʒ̊laːfə/ | 'to sleep' |
Long /lː/ is pronounced [wː], for instance /ˈb̥alːə/ → [ˈb̥awːə] ‘ball’; /l/ at the end of a syllable [w], for instance /ˈɣ̊alt/ → [ɣ̊awt] ('cold').
This feature is absent in the old upper-class dialect of the patricians.
/nd̥/ is pronounced [ŋː], for instance /hʊnd̥/ → [hʊŋː] ('dog').
This feature is absent in the old upper-class dialect of the patricians.
In the southwestern dialects of the Schwarzenburg area, it is pronounced [nː].
In the western and southern dialects (not in the city of Bern), /ŋk͡x/ is pronounced [jɣ̊], for instance /ˈd̥æŋk͡xə/ → [ˈd̥æjɣ̊ə] ('to think').
In native word, the word stem is stressed, except verbs with a separable prefix where that prefix is stressed.
In loan words, there is – in comparison to standard German – a preference of initial stress, for instance Bernese German /ˈkaz̥inɔ/ ‘casino’ vs. standard German /kaˈziːno/.
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