Chemnitz dialect phonology

This article is about the phonology of the Chemnitz dialect, a variety of Upper Saxon German.

Consonants

• 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]
  • /t/ is alveolar [t͇] after /ʃ/.^[4]
• /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]
    • Voiced uvular approximant [ʁ̞];^[4]
    • Voiced [ʁ] or voiceless [ʁ̥] lenis uvular fricative;^[4]
    • Voiceless uvular trill [ʀ̥];^[4]
    • Unaspirated voiceless uvular stop [q].^[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]
• Non-phonemic glottal stop [ʔ] is inserted in two cases:
  • Before word-initial vowels, even the unstressed ones.^[4]
  • Before stressed syllable-initial vowels within words.^[4]

Vowels

The pharyngealized vowels correspond to the sequences of vowel + /r/ in the standard language.^[8]

Monophthongs

Monophthongs of the Chemnitz dialect, from Khan & Weise (2013:236–237). Red vowels are pharyngealized.

• 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 [e̠, e̠ː]. /j/ 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 retracted near-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]
    • Phonemically, the short /oˤ/ can be analyzed as short pharyngealized monophthong /ɵˤ/ or /əˤ/, a sequence /əʁ/ or /ɔʁ/, or a syllabic rhotic /ʁ̩/.^[8]
    • Phonemically, the long /oˤː/ can be analyzed as an allophone of the sequence /ɵːʁ/ (or /ɵːʕ/, if one considers /ʁ/ to be pharyngeal.)^[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 raised near-open near-front unrounded [æ̽ˤː].^[8]
    • Phonemically, /aˤː/ can be analyzed as an allophone of the sequence /eːʁ/ (or /eːʕ/, if one considers /ʁ/ to be pharyngeal.)^[8]

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 [yː, ʏ, øː, œ], which contrast with /iː, ɪ, eː, ɛ/ as well as /ʉː, ɵ, ɵː, ɞ/, for instance Brüder [ˈpʁyːtoˤ] ('brothers'); in other cases, they are pronounced the same as /iː, ɪ, eː, ɛ/.^[12]

Diphthongs

Diphthongs of the Chemnitz dialect, from Khan & Weise (2013:237).

• 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]

Sample

The sample text is a reading 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 || toˤ ˈnoˤːtʋɪnt ɵnt tə ˈsɞnə ʋɔˤːnʃ ae̯nʃ tʌs toˤ ˈʃtaˤːkʁ̞ə fɞn ˈpeːtn̩ tɛn ˈmʌntl̩ fɞm ˈʋʌntʁ̞oˤ ˈkʁ̞iːʃn̩ sɞl || toˤ ˈnoˤːtʋɪnt ˈpʉːstətə ʋʌs tʌs tsɞʏʃ hiːlt ˈʌːpoˤ jə maˤː aˤː ˈpʉːstətə ɵm sɵː maˤː foˤˈkʁ̞iːʃtə sɪʃ toˤ ˈʋʌntʁ̞oˤ ɪn sae̯nn̩ ˈmʌntl̩ || toˤ ˈnoˤːtʋɪnt kʌːp ɞf || tʌn hʌts tə ˈsɞnə ɵːχ foˤˈsʉːχt mɪt ʌˤːn ˈʋɔˤːmm̩ ˈsɞnn̩ʃtʁ̞ɔˤːln̩ || ɵnt ɪm nʉː ʃmɪs toˤ ˈʋʌntʁ̞oˤ sae̯nn̩ ˈmʌntl̩ ʋɛʃ || tɔˤː ˈmɵstə toˤ ˈnoˤːtʋɪnt ˈtsʉːkɛpm̩ tʌs tə ˈsɞnə toˤ ˈʃtaˤːkʁ̞ə fɞnn̩ ˈpeːtn̩ ɪs]^[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. Der Nordwind und die Sonne waren sich einig, dass der Stärkere von den beiden den Mantel vom Wanderer kriegen soll. Der Nordwind pustete was das Zeug hielt, aber je mehr er pustete, um so mehr verkriechte sich der Wanderer in seinen Mantel. Der Nordwind gab auf. Dann hat es die Sonne auch versucht mit ihren warmen Sonnenstrahlen. Und im Nu schmiss der Wanderer seinen Mantel weg. Da musste der Nordwind zugeben, dass die Sonne die Stärkere von den beiden ist.^[14]

References

Bibliography