Re: USAGE: German phonemically long vowels [was Re: Silent E]

Hi!

Roger Mills <romilly@...> writes:
> >> Well, but these two are not, since the first a is short, the second
> >> long:
> >>
> >>   Nachttisch  [naXtIS]
> >>   Nachtisch   [na:XtIS]
> >>
> >> But your point is still correct.
> >
> >That's something I've never mastered:  when are the phonemic vowels
> >present? The only time I get them right is when they're marked
> >orthographihcally:  <Stadt> (city) vs. <Staat> (state).
> >
> >(Or did I get that wrong too?)
> >
> This Nachttisch vs. nachtisch has been bothering me.  Are we sure these
> words are true homonyms,
Well, they are not, because of the vowel length, but that's not your
point, but:

> or do they differ perhaps in accentuation?
No, I don't think so.  The accentuation pattern is identical.

> A Nachttisch (noun-noun) is still a type of Tisch-- wouldn't that
> get at least a secondary accent?
I think this only happens with at least bisyllabic words.  The above
,-tisch' is not stressed at all.  (At least not in my dialect.)

> Whereas nachtisch would clearly be _main accent - no accent_.
But of cause, `Nachtisch' is also a `-tisch' (lit. after-table =
dessert).  The adjective `nacht-isch' does not exist (would be
`n