Questions tagged [phonetics]

relating to the study and systematic classification of speech sounds

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What is the origin of "depperter"

On the surface, the Austrian appellative Depperter, adj. bist' deppert?, also Upper German appellative Du Depp “You idiot” may be correlated with zerdeppern “to break pots etc.”. Pfeifer traces two ...
vectory's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
184 views

PONS online - Warum ändert sich die IPA Lautschrift zwischen Sprachen?

Ich hätte eine Frage für all jene die mit der online Version des PONS Wörterbuches vertraut sind: Warum ändert sich die IPA Transkription je nach dem welche Übersetzungssprache ich auswähle? Im Rahmen ...
asderad's user avatar
  • 31
2 votes
2 answers
210 views

Pronunciation of a in standard Austrian German

After listening to some Austrian German I have noticed that 'a' sometimes is pronounced /o̞/, e.g. the word "sagst" is pronounced /so̞gst/ instead of /sɑgst/ as it would be in Standard ...
Paul Petersen's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
157 views

How do you write Pelé phonetically in German?

I was hearing the news in German and the recently deceased soccer player Pelé (Edson Arantes do Nascimento) was mentioned. I want to know how his name is written phonetically in German. I'm used to ...
bad_coder's user avatar
  • 215
2 votes
1 answer
272 views

Which is the most used version of German?

For UK there is Received Pronunciation, for the US there is General American. How can I find the most used version of a language, especially German? I don't know what to search exactly. Is it "...
Christelle Augustin's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
277 views

Pronunciation of name "Matei" by native German speakers

We are considering naming our son "Matei", however as we live in a German-speaking country, we worry that native speakers of German would pronounce it /ma'tai/, different from the name's ...
z8080's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
207 views

What are the various Swiss dialects for Guten Abend and other day greetings?

Swiss people were heard saying Guten Abend as "Gütte Oppa" in one part of the country. How is the Swiss-German spelling for this actually, and what are the various ways the different Swiss ...
user610620's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
619 views

List of words that demonstrate all German consonant and vowel sounds

Is there a list of words that demonstrates all German consonant and vowel sounds, including the rule that applies and its IPA representation? For example: short and long vowels diphthongs ending d ...
craig's user avatar
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1 answer
241 views

Warum das 'e' manchmal wie 'i' klingt

Wenn ein Wort zwei "e" in Silben zusammen hat, wird das erste oft "i", B.s: verstehen = vastihen ausgesprochen. Warum? Ist es der Beginn der Trennung der Buchstaben- und Vokallaute ...
Sandra M.'s user avatar
-4 votes
1 answer
159 views

Does German distinguish between /t͡s/ and /ts/? [closed]

Do you pronounce differently Platsfuehrer and Plazfuehrer?
Anixx's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
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How can I distinguish between close and close-mid long vowels more easily?

I have trouble distinguishing between long close vowels ([i:], [u:] and [ü:]) and close-mid vowels ([e:], [o:] and [ö:]). For example, when I hear a new word (for example, Löwe) I find it hard to tell ...
Mohammed Essam's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
155 views

How quickly can German Native Speakers differentiate between the vowels sounds (/e:/ vs. /i:/) at the beginning of a word? [closed]

Does anyone know how quickly German native speakers are able to discriminate between the vowel sounds (/e:/ vs. /i:/) at the beginning of a word e.g. (er ‘he’ vs. ihn ‘him’) upon hearing the vowel ...
Angie's user avatar
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1 vote
4 answers
331 views

I need some German middle words p and b minimal pairs

The letters p and b should be in the middle of the words, and please not like this: "tribe" and "tripe", because they pronounced here as the last sound.
Mohammed Essam's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
409 views

Why is "doofer" pronounced ['doːvɐ] insead of ['doːfɐ]?

Hearing "Zwei Doofe, ein Gedanke" I could not recognize that [ˈdoːvɐ] refears to doofe (my mind tried to write dowe or dowa, but I didn't think of f first). Is there any way to guess when f ...
c.p.'s user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
243 views

Käsearten: Wie spricht man das "ä" in Käse aus?

In dieser Wikipediaseite (Link unten) steht, dass der Laut "ä" in Käse dem Internationalen Phonetischen Alphabet zufolge als /ɛ:/ ausgesprochen werden soll, wie im Französischen "frÈre&...
Gabriel Bach's user avatar
0 votes
3 answers
208 views

Gibt es eine beispielhafte Beschreibung der im Bayrischen gebräuchlichen internationalen Lautschrift?

Im Bayrischen gibt es einige gebräuchliche Laute, die in der Verschriftlichung nur schwer abbildbar sind. So zum Beispiel den schon fast klischeehaften Oachkatzlschwoaf, zu dem de.wictionary,org ...
πάντα ῥεῖ's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
179 views

What is "Stotterlaut" in the phonetics?

What is "Stotterlaut"? Is this term used in the phonetics? If so, what sound exactly does it indicate? I guess that it might belong to one of the plosive or affricate sounds from the context,...
kore's user avatar
  • 203
2 votes
5 answers
261 views

Aus Klängen zusammengesetzte Wörter

Man kann manche Wörter bilden, indem man sie aus den Klängen anderer Wörter zusammensetzt. Hier ein paar Beispiele: Kreuz + Zunge → Kreuzung Prinz + Essen → Prinzessin Uhr + Laub → Urlaub Dass der ...
Dennis Hackethal's user avatar
1 vote
4 answers
206 views

Pronunciation of Ernst Robert Curtius

I've been reading a book by Ernst Robert Curtius, a 20th. cent. German philologist, and sources online suggest that Curtius is pronounced as "Court-zi-us." I'm wondering where that "z/s" sound after ...
Matt's user avatar
  • 31
0 votes
2 answers
1k views

Why is the German "qu" pronounced as "kv"?

Why is the German "qu" pronounced as "kv"? Most of the languages I know of pronounce "qu" as "w" and/or "kw". What's the history behind this oddity?
ChocolateOverflow's user avatar
0 votes
3 answers
252 views

reduction of "das" to "s"

The article das is reduced to s when it's coupled with a preposition in for example ins, ans, fürs. But would it be possible to realise das as s without prepositions in the accusative or nominative ...
grandtout's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
141 views

Rounding of /ɪ/ ending up with an /ʏ/ sound?

I just watched the Italy-Holland game of the women's World Cup on ARD. The commentator, Stephanie Baczyk from Hannover, said Viertelfinale with what to my ears sounded like /ʏ/ so that it was more ...
grandtout's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
267 views

Ist das Tiefschwa allein, oder hat es mit dem Hochschwa ein kleines Brüd​ɐ​chen?

Jüngst stoße ich in Beiträgen zu diesem Forum vermehrt auf den Begriff Tiefschwa für den fast offenen Zentralvokal ​ɐ​ - also etwa wie das er in Brüderchen. Der Name Tiefschwa ist zwar von den ...
Christian Geiselmann's user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
320 views

Is there a rule for realizing a-schwa before vowels as [r] at words boundaries?

I know that Standard German pronunciation is strictly governed by rules, i.e. the pronunciation of originally German words are to a large extent predicted. However, I don't know whether there is a ...
Abdullah's user avatar
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1 vote
4 answers
213 views

Sounds change flavour depending on neighbours

Epenthesis phenomenon: an [i] sound within Ahornstraße 2, I hear the word as Ahorn[i]straße 2. When t followed by Gr as in: Ist da nicht Gräfinger?, I feel like the final t of nicht turns to a ...
preachers's user avatar
  • 286
5 votes
2 answers
264 views

How far can I rely on 'Akzentverschiebung' rule?

From Intonationsforschungen book I quote: Die Akzentverschiebung verhindert, dass zwei stark betonte Silben zu nahe beieinander stehen. Das gilt für Wörter ebenso wie für Phrasen. And also: Im Wort ...
user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
2k views

How is sentence stress in German different than in English?

Content words (i.e. verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs) are stressed in both German and English as opposed to function words (prepositions, pronouns, articles..). However, in English (at least in ...
user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
201 views

How can I predict the stressed syllable in proper/brand/trademark/foreign nouns?

I often encounter nouns that I hear of for the first time, and I can not determine which syllable to stress. Unfortunately, I can not find most of these nouns in dictionaries to check the stressed ...
user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
260 views

Should I vocalize non-prevocalic /R/ after short vowels?

I happen to notice that non-prevocalic R could or could not be vocalized (realized as an a-schwa) after short vowels. Examples: wirken, lernen, hart, Ort, Furcht, durch Which way is better to ...
user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
2k views

Which vowels can be reduced to schwas in informal German?

In American accent, almost all vowels in non-stressed syllables and non-diphthong containing syllables can be reduced to schwas in non-careful everyday speech. Example: In 'easier to understand', 'to' ...
user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
324 views

Is secondary stress important in German?

Almost every German phonetic book points out the presence of the secondary stress, yet unlike English I do not see most dictionaries including Duden, PONS, Oxford, Larousse among many others refer to ...
user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
185 views

Which word should I stress in a sentence?

It's said in phonetic books that some word classes are stressed (i.e. lexical words: nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs) and some are not (particles, conjunctions, prepositions, pronouns, auxiliary ...
user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
368 views

German vowel charts with phonetic accuracy [closed]

German vowel charts used in the wikipedia article Standard German phonology do not locate vowels with great details. For example German [e] is a bit higher than the IPA [e] or tense vowel [e:] is not ...
Houman's user avatar
  • 173
3 votes
1 answer
82 views

Should the vowel also become a bit more open before consonant cluster by conjugation? [closed]

segeln > segle lesen > lest Is the e changed from [e] to [ɛ]? the e in essen and gehen is different.
wodemingzi's user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
292 views

Pronunciation of consonants at a word-border

How to pronounce "Was sind …" and other consequence when a final voiceless consonant meets an initial voiced consonant? When [t] and [z] meet: Wie alt sind Sie? nicht sehr (together as [tsʰ], [...
wodemingzi's user avatar
3 votes
3 answers
5k views

Automated conversion of German text to IPA

[IPA = Internationales Phonetisches Alphabet] Does anyone know of a tool like this one that supports German? For my purposes, the tool need not be free or web-based (though, if not web-based, it at ...
kjo's user avatar
  • 3,495
3 votes
6 answers
749 views

How to remember umlauts? (ö and ü) [closed]

[NB: In this question, I use some of the terminology given here.] I can hear (and produce) the difference between ö and o, and between ü and u, but whatever part of my brain is responsible for ...
kjo's user avatar
  • 3,495
5 votes
3 answers
181 views

Gibt es in manchen Dialekte lange Nasale als Phonem?

Diese Frage ist praktisch ein Follow-Up auf diese Frage. Ich kenne mich einigermaßen mit Phonetik und Phonologie aus, und kann ein bisschen Finnisch (wo es Langkonsonanten gibt). Mit diesem Background ...
phipsgabler's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
15k views

Liste deutscher Minimalpaare

Welche Wort-Paare (und Wort-Gruppen) sind geeignet, die Unterschiedlichkeit von Laut-Paaren in der deutschen Sprache zu belegen? Definition: Minimalpaar Ein Minimalpaar ist ein Paar von zwei Wörtern ...
12 votes
2 answers
12k views

Wie viele Vokale gibt es im Deutschen?

Wie viele verschiedene Vokale lassen sich im gesprochenen Deutsch voneinander unterscheiden? Ich habe nach der Anzahl der Vokale im gesprochenen Deutsch im Internet gesucht, und habe eine Liste ...
Hubert Schölnast's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
372 views

Alveolar stops before a syllabic nasal

I’ve noticed that I’ve transferred the English tendency to glottalise a /t/ or /d/ before a syllabic /n/ (think Latin /ˈlat.ɪn/ or /ˈlæt.n̩/ vs. /ˈlæ.ʔn̩/ or kitten /ˈkɪtən/ vs. /ˈkɪ.ʔn̩/) to my ...
HolyHandGrenade's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
187 views

Phonetischer Unterschied zwischen "sosehr" and "so sehr"

In einer anderen Frage habe ich nach dem Bedeutungsunterschied zwischen sosehr und so sehr gefragt. Ergänzend dazu interessiert mich, inwiefern die beiden phonetisch einen Unterschied aufweisen. Wäre ...
c.p.'s user avatar
  • 30.8k
6 votes
1 answer
222 views

How are the rules of phonetics/pronunciation named in standard german?

I am searching a scientific term for the pronunciation rules covering the following: The vowel in Stamm is short, but the vowel in Wal is long. In German, pronunciation is Aussprache, but I am looking ...
Thomas's user avatar
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0 votes
2 answers
178 views

Can Germans distinguish “iSelf” from “iShelf” by pronunciation?

Would German-speaking people notice the difference of pronunciation between iShelf and iSelf?
Vlad Lego's user avatar
  • 111
29 votes
6 answers
15k views

What makes the German language sound so harsh?

When international friends hear me talking German, they always think I must be really angry and having an argument with somebody. What are the phonetical explanations for making the German language ...
T Sieksmeier's user avatar
12 votes
1 answer
3k views

Ear-training with Minimal Pairs?

I came across this article on Minimal Pairs that seemed to perfectly describe the issues I have been having: not being able to clearly differentiate between the different sounds and vowels. The ...
mooglinux's user avatar
  • 323
9 votes
3 answers
1k views

Resources for learning how to pronounce German phonemes?

In reading Fluent Forever. The author makes a point of something I had begun to suspect on my own: Learning to hear and correctly pronounce a language will help you learn much faster, because your ...
mooglinux's user avatar
  • 323
15 votes
4 answers
2k views

The loanwords of which languages are to be faithfully pronounced when speaking German?

I have the impression that – unlike English (where you say Euler as Yuler, or better yet, bruschetta as [/brʊˈʃɛtə/]), European Spanish (where one pronounces Wi-Fi as guifi) or French (Bounty as buntý)...
c.p.'s user avatar
  • 30.8k
9 votes
4 answers
5k views

Sometimes "s" is pronounced [z] Why?

I have seen that many times, a German word is spelled with an s, but it is read like an English z. Moreover, every time this happens, the Dutch cognate word is spelled with a z. (But not the English ...
geodude's user avatar
  • 357
5 votes
1 answer
530 views

"Standard" German pronunciation of Spar: [ʃpʰaːɐ] or [ʃpaːɐ]?

I'm reading Modern German Pronunciation, 2nd edition by Christopher Hall and I have a question regarding the /p/. I hold piece of paper directly in front of my lips and first I say the word Paar. I ...
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