Luxembourgish phonology

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This article aims to describe the phonology and phonetics of central Luxembourgish, which is regarded as the emerging standard. [1]

Contents

Consonants

The consonant inventory of Luxembourgish is quite similar to that of Standard German. [1]

Consonant phonemes of Luxembourgish [1]
Labial Alveolar Postalveolar Dorsal Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ
Plosive fortis p t k
lenis b d ɡ
Affricate fortis ( pf ) ts
lenis ( dz )( )
Fricative fortis f s ʃ χ h
lenis v z ʒ ʁ
Approximant j
Liquid l r

Morpheme-final /n/ undergoes both internal and external sandhi: it is deleted unless followed by a vowel, a homorganic (i.e. apical) noncontinuant, i.e. [ntdtsdzdʒ], or [h]. Furthermore, some unusual consonant clusters may arise post-lexically after cliticisation of the definite article d' (for feminine, neuter and plural forms), e.g. d'Land/dlɑnt/ ('the country') or d'Kräiz/tkræːɪ̯ts/ ('the cross'). [2] Due to cluster simplification this article often disappears entirely between consonants.

Word-final obstruents

In the word-final position the contrast between the voiceless /p,t,tʃ,k,f,s,ʃ,χ/ on the one hand and the voiced /b,d,dʒ,ɡ,v,z,ʒ,ʁ/ on the other is neutralized in favor of the former, unless a word-initial vowel follows in which case the obstruent is voiced and are resyllabified, that is, moved to the onset of the first syllable of the next word (the same happens with /ts/, which becomes [dz], and the non-native affricate /pf/, which is also voiced to [ bv ]). For instance, sech eens (phonemically /zeχˈeːns/) is pronounced [zəˈʑeːns], [6] although this article transcribes it [zəʑˈeːns] so that it corresponds more closely to the spelling. Similarly, eng interessant Iddi is pronounced [æŋintʀæˈsɑndˈidi] ('an interesting idea'), with a voiced [ d ].

Pronunciation of the letter g

In Luxembourgish, the letter g has no fewer than nine possible pronunciations, depending both on the origin of a word and the phonetic environment. Natively, it is pronounced [ɡ] initially and ~ʑ] elsewhere, the latter being devoiced to ~ɕ] at the end of a morpheme. Words from French, English and (in a few cases) German have introduced [ɡ] (devoiced [k]) in other environments, and French orthography's "soft g" indicates [ʒ] (devoiced [ʃ]). By the now very common mergers of [ʒ] and [ʑ], as well as [ʃ] and [ɕ], this number may be reduced to seven, however.

In the unstressed intervocalic position when simultaneously following [ə,i̯ə,u̯ə] and preceding [ə] or [ɐ], [ʑ] may lose its friction and become an approximant [j], as in bëllegen[ˈbələjən] 'cheap (infl.)'. This is generally not obligatory.

Summary of pronunciation of g
PhonemeAllophoneApplies inPhonetic environmentExampleIPAMeaning
/ɡ/[ ɡ ]native and German
words
stem-initiallygéi[ɡəɪ̯]go
some German wordsstem-internallyDrogen[ˈdʀoːɡən]drugs
French wordsstem-initially and internally before orthographic a, o, u or consonantNegatioun[neɡɑˈsjəʊ̯n]negation
/k/[ k ]French and some
German words
word-finallyDrog[dʀoːk]drug
/ʒ/[ ʒ ]French wordsstem-initially and internally before orthographic e, i, yoriginell[oʀiʒiˈnæl]original
/ʃ/[ ʃ ]word-finally before mute ePlage[plaːʃ]beach
/ʁ/[ ʁ ]native and most
German words
stem-internally after back vowels (including /aː/)Lager[ˈlaːʁɐ]store
[ ʑ ]stem-internally after consonants and non-back vowelsVerfügung[fɐˈfyːʑuŋ]disposal
[ j ]when both unstressed and intervocalic between [ə,i̯ə,u̯ə] and [ə,ɐ]bëllegen[ˈbələjən]cheap (inflected)
/χ/[ χ ]word-finally after back vowels (including /aː/)Dag[daːχ]day
[ ɕ ]word-finally after consonants and non-back vowelsbëlleg[ˈbələɕ]cheap

Vowels

Native monophthongs of Luxembourgish, from Gilles & Trouvain (2013:70) Luxembourgish vowel chart.svg
Native monophthongs of Luxembourgish, from Gilles & Trouvain (2013 :70)
Part 1 of native diphthongs of Luxembourgish, from Gilles & Trouvain (2013:71) Luxembourgish diphthong chart - part 1.svg
Part 1 of native diphthongs of Luxembourgish, from Gilles & Trouvain (2013 :71)
Part 2 of native diphthongs of Luxembourgish, from Gilles & Trouvain (2013:71) Luxembourgish diphthong chart - part 2.svg
Part 2 of native diphthongs of Luxembourgish, from Gilles & Trouvain (2013 :71)
Native vowels
Front Central Back
short long shortlong
Close i u
Close-mid e ə o
Open-mid ɛː ɐ
Open æ ɑ
Diphthongs closingəɪ̯ əʊ̯ æːɪ̯ æːʊ̯ ɑɪ̯ ɑʊ̯
centeringi̯əu̯ə
openingiːɐ̯uːɐ̯ɛːɐ̯oːɐ̯
Non-native vowels
Front
rounded
shortlong
Close y
Close-mid øː
Open-mid ( œ ) œː
Nasal vowels õː ɛ̃ː ɑ̃ː
Diphthongs closingoɪ̯
openingyːɐ̯ øːɐ̯

The /æːɪ̯~ɑɪ̯/ and /æːʊ̯~ɑʊ̯/ contrasts arose from a former lexical tone contrast: the shorter /ɑɪ̯,ɑʊ̯/ were used in words with Accent 1, whereas the lengthened /æːɪ̯,æːʊ̯/ were used in words with Accent 2 (see Pitch-accent language.) [2] The contrast between the two sets of diphthongs is only partially encoded in orthography, so that the fronting /ɑɪ̯,æːɪ̯/ are differentiated as ei or ai vs. äi, whereas au can stand for either /ɑʊ̯/ or /æːʊ̯/. The difference is phonemic in both cases and there are minimal pairs such as fein/fɑɪ̯n/ 'elevated' vs. fäin/fæːɪ̯n/ 'decent' and faul/fɑʊ̯l/ 'rotten' vs. faul/fæːʊ̯l/ 'lazy'. The diphthongs contrast mainly in monosyllabics. In penultimate syllables, the short /ɑɪ̯,ɑʊ̯/ occur mainly before voiced consonants and in hiatus, whereas the long /æːɪ̯,æːʊ̯/ occur mainly before voiceless consonants (including phonetically voiceless consonants that are voiced in their underlying form). The last traces of the dative forms of nouns show a shortening from /æːɪ̯,æːʊ̯/ to /ɑɪ̯,ɑʊ̯/; compare the nominative forms Läif/læːɪ̯f/ 'body' and Haus/hæːʊ̯s/ 'house' with the corresponding dative forms Leif/lɑɪ̯f/ and Haus/hɑʊ̯s/. [12]

Additional phonetic diphthongs [iːɐ̯,uːɐ̯,oːɐ̯,ɛːɐ̯] arise after vocalisation of /r/ after long vowels. In loanwords from Standard German (such as Lürmann and Röhr ) [yːɐ̯] and [øːɐ̯] also occur. The sequence /aːr/ is monophthongized to [ ], unless a vowel follows within the same word. It is also sporadically retained in the environments where it is vocalized after other long vowels, which is why the merger with the monophthong [ ] is assumed to be phonetic, rather than phonemic. [13] This variation is not encoded in transcriptions in this article, where the phonetic output of /aːr/ is consistently written with .

/r/ after short vowels is not vocalized but fricativized to [ ʁ ] or [ χ ], depending on the voicing of the following sound (the lenis stops count as voiced despite their being unaspirated with variable voicing). The fricativization and devoicing to [ χ ] also occurs whenever the non-prevocalic /r/ is retained between /aː/ and a fortis consonant, as in schwaarz[ˈʃwaːχts] 'black', alternatively pronounced [ˈʃwaːts]. Thus, before /r/, /aː/ behaves more like a short vowel than a long one. When the following consonant is lenis or the /r/ occurs before a pause, it is unclear whether the more common consonantal realization of /r/ is a fricative or a trill. [4]

Phonological history

Long vowels and diphthongs

Middle High German (MHG) /iː//yː/ and /uː/ were broken into /æːɪ̯//ɑɪ̯/ and /æːʊ̯//ɑʊ̯/, but each reflexes split into two. The pairs /æːɪ̯//æːʊ̯/ (originally [ɛːi][ɑːu] as in this source) occur in originally monosyllabic words, or polysyllabic words followed by unvoiced consonants. Meanwhile, pairs /ɑɪ̯//ɑʊ̯/ occur in newly monosyllabic words due to loss of a suffix, polysyllabic words followed by voiced consonants, or in hiatus. [14]

MHG /aː/ evolved into /oː/, except before /r/ and /χt/, when this phoneme respectively became /əʊ̯/ and /u̯ə/ instead. Meanwhile, its umlauted counterpart /æː/ evolved into /əɪ̯/, having been merged with the outcomes of /i̯ə/ (< Proto-Germanic *ē², *eu) and /eː/ (< *ai). [15]

Sample

The sample text is a reading of the first sentence of The North Wind and the Sun. The transcription is based on a recording of a 26-year-old male speaker of Central Luxembourgish. [16]

Phonetic transcription

[ɑnˈtsæːɪ̯t|hunzəɕdənˈnoχtvɑndɑnˈdzonɡəˈʃtʀidən||vi̯əfunhinənˈtsweː|vu̯əlˈməɪ̯ʃtaːkviːɐ̯||vəɪ̯əˈvɑndəʀɐ||deːnɑnəˈvaːməˈmɑntəlˈɑɡəpaːkvaː||ivɐtˈveːkəʊ̯m] [17]

Orthographic version

An der Zäit hunn sech den Nordwand an d'Sonn gestridden, wie vun hinnen zwee wuel méi staark wier, wéi e Wanderer, deen an ee waarme Mantel agepak war, iwwert de Wee koum. [17]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Gilles & Trouvain (2013), p. 67.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Gilles & Trouvain (2013), p. 72.
  3. 1 2 Gilles & Trouvain (2013), p. 69.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Gilles & Trouvain (2013), p. 68.
  5. Gilles & Trouvain (2013), pp. 68–69.
  6. Gilles & Trouvain (2013), pp. 68, 72.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Gilles & Trouvain (2013), p. 70.
  8. Gilles & Trouvain (2013), pp. 70–71.
  9. Dudenredaktion, Kleiner & Knöbl (2015), p. 39.
  10. Gilles & Trouvain (2013), pp. 68, 70–71.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Gilles & Trouvain (2013), p. 71.
  12. Keller (1961), pp. 260–261.
  13. Gilles & Trouvain (2013), pp. 68, 71.
  14. Keller 1961, p. 260–1.
  15. Keller 1961, p. 258–60.
  16. Gilles & Trouvain (2013), pp. 72–73.
  17. 1 2 Gilles & Trouvain (2013), p. 73.

Bibliography

Further reading