Servas,
In Viennese colloquial Standard German this is the same <Pfad> [pfa:t] and
<Fahrt> [fa:t]. In the urban colloquial dialect the two are differentiated
though, as [pfO:d] and [fO6t] respectively.
I am a trained actor and speaker so when speaking “officialese” or
professionally I have to make a distinction: [pfa:t_h] vs. [fa:Rt_h]. Long
/a:/ + /r/ is the only long vowel that actually calls for the realisation of
post-vocalic /r/ as [R] or [r]. Following the other long vowels /r/ is
realised as [@]:
long <Fahrt> [fa:Rt_h] vs. short <Farne> [“faRn@]
long <Werte> [“ve:@t_h@] vs. short <Wärter> [“vERt_h6],
long <vier> [fi:@] vs. short <Firma> [“fIRma]
long <vor> [fo:@] vs. short <vorne> [“fORn@]
long <Kur> [k_hu:@] vs. short <kurz> [k_hURts]
long <Kür> [k_hy:@] vs. short <Kürze> [“k_hYRts@]
long <Föhr> [f2:@] vs. short <fördern> [“f9Rd6n]
long <vier> [fi:@] vs. short <Firma> [“fIRma]
In many colloquial varieties of German these distinctions are reduced and
the remaining realisations are usually [a: E6 O6 U6 Y6 96], /i:r/ and /ir/
often remain distinct either as [i:6] vs. [I6], and the latter is frequently
realised as [Y6] or [96] in the Northern half of the German speaking area.
Dan
-----Original Message-----
From: Henrik Theiling
Sent: Monday, December 11, 2006 3:07 PM
Hi!
Philip Newton writes:
> On 12/10/06, Carsten Becker <carbeck@...> wrote:
> > uvular trill. In *my* dialect of German I usually have [R]
> > (the fricative one!) for /r/ in syllable onsets and [6] [...] in codas.
>
> Same for this native German speaker. (Hamburg, northern Germany)
Same here (East-Westphalia).
> With the exception that /a6/ is [a:] -- the last word in "auf großem
> Pfad" and "auf großer Fahrt" sounds the same to me. (At least in
> colloquial pronunciation, which has [f] for syllable-initial /pf/.)
Same here.
> But I have [6] after [E o: O i: I u: U y: Y 2: 9].
>
> Interestingly, I don't seem to have [e:6] -- there are words which I
> pronounce with [E6] which I found out at some point have long [e:] in
> standard German (e.g. "Erde, Herd"), something I didn't know; I
> thought my pronunciation in those words was standard. (Learn something
> new every day!) I don't know whether all my /e6/ have turned into
> /E6/, but it's possible.
I noticed very late in my life that I have no length distinction in
[6]-diphthongs at all. I only have [a: E:6 i:6 O:6 u:6 y:6 9:6]. (I mark
them long since I seem to miss the short variants when comparing to my
wife's pronunciation, with the peculiarity that /e:6/,/E6/ = [E:6] and
likewise /2:6/,/96/ = [9:6].
**Henrik