Re: THEORY: German final -g (was: THEORY: no more URs!)

On 26 May 02, at 19:59, Raymond Brown wrote:

> For many North German speakers this alternation is not restricted to
> this particular suffix, ans /x/ is found alternating with /g/ in any
> root following a front vowel, as in _Krieg_ (/krix/) ~ _Kriege_
> (/krig@/), _Weg_ (/vex/) ~ _Wege_ (/veg@/), etc.
Where the /x/ is pronounced [C] in each case. (There's also /vEx/ for
|weg| in the sense of "gone, missing".)

And some North German speakers even have final |g| = /x/ always; I once
amused some other Germans by saying /fluxtsoix/ (sp?) (for |Flugzeug|)
without thinking -- both syllables had final /x/ even though the first
syllable has the back vowel /u/.

> But these pronunciations, though very common in the North, are
> probably to be regarded as falling outside the 'standard' accent."
Yep. Except for the ending -ig = [IC], which is considered standard
German (so |Tag| = /tak/ but |wenig| = /venIx/, normatively). Not sure
whether that is restricted to the adjective ending -ig or whether words
such as |König| also have /Ix/ in standard German pronunciation (my
regiolect gets in the way there, since it has more final /x/s than the
standard).

Hm, my Duden gives no pronunciation for "König", but marks "königlich"
as being ["k2:nIklIC] and "Königreich" as [...nIk-], implying that
plain "König" has final /x/ = [C].

Cheers,
Philip
--
Philip Newton <Philip.Newton@...>