Bühnendeutsch (German: [ˈbyːnənˌdɔʏtʃ], "stage German") or Bühnenaussprache (IPA: [ˈbyːnənˌʔaʊsʃpʁaːxə] , "stage pronunciation") is a unified set of pronunciation rules for the German literary language used in the theatre of the German Sprachraum. Established in the 19th century, it came to be considered pure High German. It was codified in the pronouncing dictionary Deutsche Bühnenaussprache, edited by the German scholar Theodor Siebs, and first published in 1898.
An artificial standard not corresponding directly to any dialect, Bühnendeutsch is mostly based on Standard German as spoken in Northern Germany. For example, the suffix -ig is pronounced [ɪç].
Sonorants
Three acceptable realizations of /r/
Until 1957, only two pronunciations were allowed: an alveolar trill [r] and an alveolar flap [ɾ]. After 1957, a uvular trill [ʀ] was also allowed. A voiced uvular fricative [ʁ], used extensively in contemporary Standard German, is not allowed. Therefore, rot ('red') can be pronounced , and but not .
Rhoticism
The vocalized [ɐ̯] realization of /r/ found in German or Austrian Standard German corresponds to in Bühnendeutsch so für 'for' is pronounced rather than .
Whenever the sequence /ər/ is vocalized to [ɐ] in German or Austrian Standard German, Bühnendeutsch requires a sequence so besser 'better' is pronounced rather than .
In contemporary Standard German, both of these features are found almost exclusively in Switzerland.
No schwa-elision
Contrary to Standard German, /ə/ cannot be elided before a sonorant consonant (making it syllabic) so Faden 'yarn' is pronounced rather than the standard .
Fronting of word-final schwa
In loanwords from Latin and Ancient Greek, the word-final /ə/ is realized as a short, tense [e] so Psyche 'psyche' is pronounced rather than the standard .
Obstruents
Syllable-final fortition
As in Standard German, syllable-final obstruents written with the letters used also for syllable-initial lenis sounds (⟨b, d, g⟩ etc.) are realized as fortis so Absicht 'intention' is pronounced (note the full voicing of /z/, which, in position immediately after a fortis, occurs in Bühnendeutsch: see below), but Bad 'bath' is pronounced .
The corresponding standard southern (Southern German, Austrian, Swiss) pronunciations contain lenis consonants in that position: and , respectively.
Strong aspiration of /p, t, k/
The voiceless plosives /p, t, k/ are aspirated in the same environments as in Standard German but more strongly, especially to environments in which the Standard German plosives are aspirated moderately and weakly: in unstressed intervocalic and word-final positions. That can be transcribed in the IPA as . The voiceless affricates /p͡f, t͡s, t͡ʃ/ are unaspirated , as in Standard German.
Complete voicing of lenis obstruents
The lenis obstruents /b, d, ɡ, d͡ʒ, v, ð, ʝ, z, ʒ/ are fully voiced after voiceless obstruents so abdanken 'to resign' is pronounced . That is in contrast with the Northern pronunciation, which requires the lenis sounds to be devoiced in that position: . Southern accents (Southern German, Austrian, Swiss) generally realize the lenis sounds as voiceless in most or all positions and do not feature syllable-final fortition: .
See also
References
- Mangold (2005), p. 62.
- "Pronunciation: Part 2". Retrieved May 6, 2012.
- Mangold (2005), pp. 53, 63.
- ^ Mangold (2005), p. 63.
- Mangold (2005), pp. 37–40, 63.
- Mangold (2005), pp. 57, 63.
- Mangold transcribes the voiced palatal fricative with the symbol ⟨j⟩: as if it were an approximant. However, he explicitly states that /j/ is the lenis fricative counterpart of the fortis fricative /ç/ (Mangold (2005:44, 51)). It is also worth noting that among the lenis obstruents /d͡ʒ, ð, ʒ/ as well as the fortis counterpart of the /ð/ (/θ/) appear only in loanwords.
Bibliography
- Mangold, Max (2005) , Das Aussprachewörterbuch (6th ed.), Mannheim: Dudenverlag, ISBN 978-3-411-04066-7