Introduction to linguistics – The sounds of German

R21118

Dr Nicola McLelland

I. Fricatives and affricates

II. Phonological features in generative

phonology

Lecture 3 (week 4)

• We have already met the fricatives in German:

• labiodental [f, v]

• alveolar [s, z]

• palatal-alveolar [∫, Ʒ]

•[Ʒ] in German in borrowings only, such as Journalist, Mirage – it is a fairly peripheral phoneme]

•In English:

Vision /Ʒ/

German /dƷ/ (i.e as part of the affricate)

I. Fricatives and Affricates

• labiodental [f, v]

• alveolar [s, z]

• palatal-alveolar [∫, Ʒ]

• palatal [ç] as in ich (the voiced variant does not occur in German or English, but it is written like a j with a looped tail: [ʝ])

• velar [x] as in Buch

Now … Introducing the voiced velar fricative [ɣ]

Fricatives …

• Introducing the voiced velar fricative [ɣ]

• Occurs in northern parts of German after a back vowel in words like Tag , Burg (where standard German would expect …/k/)

Fricatives …

• Introducing the voiced uvular fricative, which many people use for their /r/. Its phonetic sybmol is [ʁ]. (listen for the difference between [ʁ] and a uvular trill [R]) rot, Rathaus, ringen, irren

Fricatives …

• Chris Hall’s book (p.48) talks about this sound under the fricatives, but it is really usually a semi-vowel or approximant – we’ll come back to it.

• It occurs in words like Januar, Jubel, jot, Jahr

• Also a regional allophone for /g/ in some contexts, eg. gut [ju:t], gemacht [jǝmaxt] (Berlin, Rhineland)

The palatal semi-vowel /j/

• nothing much to say about this – same as in English!

• remember that the glottis is the gap between the vocal cords

• a glottal fricative is caused by a narrowing of the constriction between the vocal cords (but not enough to cause vibration > voicing)

The glottal fricative /h/

• An affricate consists of a stop followed by a fricative produced at the same (or nearly same) place of articulation (at same place = homoorganic, Dt. homorgan)

e.g. /pf/ = labial (bilabial) stop /p/ + labial (labiodental) fricative /f/

/ts/ = alveolar stop + alveolar fricative

/t∫/ = alveolar stop + palatal-alveolar fricative (Deutsch, Tschechisch, otherwise not v. frequent)

Affricates

• Should we treat the affricates as single phonemes, or as combinations of two?

• In favour of seeing them as one phoneme:

At the start of the syllable we can normally only have two consonants, as in Kraft, Draht, or only 2 at the end in reverse order, Stark, Bürde

(exceptions where the first consonant is ∫ : e.g. Splitter, Stroh)

In this regard, the affricate /pf/ seems to behave as a single phoneme, for it can be added to another consonant: pfropfen, Karpfen

Affricates – one phoneme or two?

• Should we treat the affricates as single phonemes, or as combinations of two?

• Against seeing them as one phoneme:

Before /pf/ you can only have short vowels as in Tropfen (as well as liquids and nasals as in Karpfen, Dampf).

But before any normal single consonant, short or long vowels are possible, e.g. before /s/ in Bus vs. Fuß

This would suggest /pf/ needs to be treated as two phonemes

Affricates – one phoneme or two?

• For /ts/ and /t∫/, the evidence is even more confusing …

• In short, the jury is still out

Affricates – one phoneme or two?

II. Phonological features in generative

phonology

Generative grammar

… a revolutionary approach to linguistics which began with Noam Chomsky in the late 1950s / early 1960s

Generative grammar

… first applied to syntax

e.g. Der Junge spielte mit dem Ball.

S

NP VP

D N V PP

P NP

D N

Der Junge spielte mit dem Ball

Cf. very brief encounter in Lecture 1 …

3. Generative grammar …

S = Sentence

NP = Noun phrase

VP = Verb phrase

PP = Prepositional phrase

D = Determiner

N = Noun, V = Verb, D = Determiner

P = Prepostion

Generative grammar …

Syntactic trees like this make the internal structure of the sentence clearer –

e.g. they reflect our sense that mit dem Ball is more closely tied to spielte than it is to der Junge

Generative grammar …

… tries to generate tree structures like this using rules that reflect what native speakers just “know” intuitively

… rules that produce all possible grammatical sentences, no ungrammatical ones

… easier said than done!

Generative grammar …

Principle of parsimony

Maximally simple theory to account for the data; no unnecessary (redundant) theoretical concepts

Applied not just to syntax, but also to phonology: generative phonology

• We’ve already seen that we can describe individual sounds by listing particular characteristics or features

• e.g. a labiodental,

oral

voiceless

fricative is ….?

Generative phonology: Using features to specify phonemes

economically

• We’ve already seen that we can describe individual sounds by listing particular characteristics or features

• e.g. a labiodental, , oral voiceless fricative is …. /f/

Using articulatory features to specify phonemes

economically

• We’ve already seen that we can describe individual sounds by listing particular characteristics or features

• e.g. a labiodental, oral voiceless fricative is …. /f/

• e.g. 2: a voiced, nasal velar stop is ....

Using articulatory features to specify phonemes

economically

• We’ve already seen that we can describe individual sounds by listing particular characteristics or features

• e.g. a labiodental, oral voiceless fricative is …. /f/

• e.g. 2: a voiced, nasal velar stop is .... /ŋ/

Using features to specify phonemes economically

Generative phonology tries to reduce the number of features we need to describe any sound uniquely to the absolute minimum.

By …

Features

Generative phonology tries to reduce the number of features we need to describe any sound uniquely to the absolute minimum.

By …

• using some of the same features for vowels and for consonants

• e.g. [back], which we have seen used for vowels like /α/ and /u/

•It can also be used to describe consonants such as the velars /k g x/ where the tongue is also quite far back

Features

• AND by specifying + or – for each feature

• e.g. [consonantal ]: we specify all consonantals as “[+ consonantal[” and all vowels as “[ – consonantal]”

(i.e we don’t need an additional feature for “vowels”)

Features ….

[+ / - consonantal]

(konsonantisch), [+kons]

• refers to narrow constriction in the oral cavity – either total occlusion (closing off) or friction

• everything except vowels and semi-vowels ([w, j] etc) are [+cons]

An overview of the features ….

refers to resonance of a sound

• vowels, nasals, liquids [l and r] are [+son]

• stops, fricatives and affricates [pf, ts] are [-son]

An overview of the features ….Sonorant [+son] (sonorantisch)

refers to resonance of a sound

• vowels, nasals, liquids [l and r] are [+son]

• stops, fricatives and affricates [pf, ts] are [-son]

NB The [-son] group are called obstruents (sounds that occur in both voiced and voiceless forms). So, all obstruents are

[-son]

An overview of the features ….Sonorant [+son] (sonorantisch)

refers to obstruents with continuous friction throughout:

i.e. fricatives [f, v, s, z], etc. are [+cont]

The other obstruents – the stops and the affricates (like [pf, ts]) begin with an occlusion (complete closure). They are

[-kont]

An overview of the features ….Continuant [+cont] (dauernd [+kont], [+dnd]

When the middle part of the tongue is pressed down so that air can escape around the sides

For our purposes, there is just one lateral, [l]

An overview of the features ….

Lateral [+lat]

An obstruction in the mouth is formed further forward than palatal-alveolar

i.e. it is at the:

•lips,

•teeth, or

•alveolar ridge

An overview of the features ….

Anterior [+ant]

Tongue tip is raised straight up from its neutral position to hit either teeth or alveolar ridge, or palatal-alveolar

i.e. t, d, n, ∫, s, z …

An overview of the features ….

Coronal [+cor] (koronal [+kor]

Body (blade) of the tongue is raised from neutral position, as in ∫, k, g

An overview of the features ….

High [+high] [+hoch]

Body (blade) of the tongue is lowered from neutral position

(applies only to vowels)

•NB [-low] is not the same as [+high]

•([-low could include tongue in neutral position, but [+high] = “raised above the neutral position”)

An overview of the features ….

Low [+low] [+tief]

Body (blade) of the tongue is drawn back from neutral position:

some vowels

And velar consonants like [k, g, x, ŋ]

•NB [-back] is not the same as [+ant]:

•Palatal consonants are [-ant, -hint], e.g. /ç/ as in ich

• velar consontants are [-ant, +hint], e.g. /x/ as in ach

An overview of the features ….Back [+back] [+hinten]

Lips are rounded, not spread

(Applies to some vowels only)

An overview of the features ….

Round [+round] [+rund]

We saw last week that some vowels are tenser than others, e.g. /i/ compared to /I/

•In some languages (but not European languages) tenseness may also be a distinguishing feature for some consonants, e.g. voiceless stops in Korean

An overview of the features ….

Tense [+tense]

[+gespannt, gesp.]

Voiced = when the vocal cords vibrate

An overview of the features ….

Voice [+voice] (stimmhaft, [+sth])

• Annoyingly, the definition of the features is sometimes quite arbitrary – e.g. that [+ant] refers to a sound where the obstruction is in front of palatal-alveolar, which is not a natural boundary in any way

Comments on the features

• Annoyingly, the definition of the features is sometimes quite arbitrary – e.g. that [+ant] refers to a sound where the obstruction is in front of palatal-alveolar, which is not a natural boundary in any way

• Sometimes it is clumsier to express traditional descriptions using the limited number of features, e.g.

labial = [+ant, -kor]

Velar = [-ant, -kor, +hint]

Comments on the features

• see handout (from Ramers & Vater1995: 74)

• NB Ramers & Vater introduce [labial] (which covers both bilabial and labiodental consonants), and do not use [anterior]

• exercise in your booklet, A.2.2 (p.43) and A2.3, A2.4: (try not to look at the answers!)

Describing the consonants in terms of phonological features

• Focussing on features makes it easy to spot regular patterns, or phonological rules, and to describe them ….

• what rule does the following describe?

[+obstruent] [ - stimmhaft] / __ ] σ

• / = “in the environment of”, and σ = “syllable boundary”

Using features to describe phonological rules

• A fricative or stop becomes voiceless when it is followed by a syllable boundary

• [+obstruent] [ - stimmhaft] / __ ] σ

• i.e. Auslautverh:artung

• rewrite the rule using the individual feature(s) necessary to specify the group of obstruents

Using features to describe phonological rules

• A fricative or stop becomes voiceless when it is followed by a syllable boundary

• [+obstruent] [-stimmhaft] / __ ] σ

Re-writing the rule to define the obstruents:

• [+kons, -nasal, -son] [-stimmhaft] / __ ] σ

• or even just: [-son] [-stimmhaft] / __ ] σ

Using features to describe phonological rules

• [-son, -kont, +sth] Ø / [+nas, +hint] _____

Let’s try and decode another rule

• [-son, -kont, +sth] Ø / [+nas, +hint] _____

• This says that when an “obstruent which is a fricative and voiced” follows a velar nasal /ŋ/, it is deleted.

Let’s try and decode another rule

• [-son, -kont, +sth] Ø / [+nas, +hint] _____

• This says that when an “obstruent which is not a fricative and is voiced”, i.e a voiced stop, follows a velar nasal /ŋ/, it is deleted.

• In practice the only voiced stop that can ever follow a /ŋ/ is /g/, so the rule says, “delete /g/ after /ŋ/” , and it deals with cases like Hunger, /hʊŋɐ/ as opposed to hungrig, where the /g/ is pronounced after the /ŋ/.

Let’s try and decode another rule