Re: German style orthography
| From: | Philip Newton <philip.newton@...> |
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| Date: | Thursday, December 9, 2004, 16:22 |
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On Thu, 9 Dec 2004 08:13:49 -0800, bob thornton <arcanesock@...> wrote:
> Question: How is /s/ represented in German as of now?
/s/ is represented in German typically by any of |s|, |ss|, or |ß|
(es-zett) depending on the etymology of the word. Of those three, |s|
can also represent /z/ (typically at the beginning of a syllable or
between vowels).
Since word-initial |s| is always /z/ in German, I've seen |ß| used in
transcriptions of foreign languages (e.g. "ßänks" for "thanks" in a
tourist's guidebook/phrasebook of English) when the author wanted to
make clear that an /s/ sound was intended. It looks a bit strange to
me, though, since |ß| does not occur word-initially in any native
German word.
Cheers,
--
Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>
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