Convention
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Independent of the underlying phonology, a purely IPA-related convention for how to transcribe the difference between fortis and lenis consonants has to be agreed upon. We chose the following system, which is also used by (sometimes) Dieth (1950), Willi (1995, 1996), and (for broad transcriptions) Fleischer, Schmid (2006)[1]:
Phonemes
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IPA (broad) |
IPA (narrow) |
Examples |
Distribution |
Sometimes merged into...
|
Consonants
|
/m/
|
[m]
|
zäme
|
everywhere
|
|
/mː/
|
[mː]
|
Hammer
|
everywhere, especially young people[1]
|
/m/
|
/n/
|
[n]
|
Haane
|
everywhere
|
|
/nː/
|
[nː]
|
Sunne
|
everywhere, especially young people[1]
|
/n/
|
/ŋ/
|
[ŋ]
|
lang
|
everywhere
|
|
/ŋː/
|
[ŋː]
|
länger
|
everywhere, especially young people[1]
|
/ŋ/
|
/b̥/
|
[b̥]
|
Huube
|
everywhere
|
|
/p/
|
[p]
|
huupe
|
everywhere
|
|
/pʰ/
|
[pʰ]
|
Phack
|
at least in northern and eastern Switzerland
|
|
/pː/
|
[pː]
|
öppe
|
at least in Bern and eastern Switzerland
|
/p/
|
/d̥/
|
[d̥]
|
Lade
|
everywhere
|
|
/t/
|
[t]
|
Tag
|
everywhere
|
|
/tʰ/
|
[tʰ]
|
Thee
|
everywhere
|
|
/tː/
|
[tː]
|
Latte
|
at least in Bern and eastern Switzerland
|
/t/
|
/ɡ̊/
|
[ɡ̊]
|
luege
|
everywhere
|
|
/k/
|
[k]
|
Gfüül
|
everywhere?
|
|
/kʰ/
|
[kʰ]
|
gheie
|
at least in Bern
|
/k͡x/
|
/kː/
|
[kː]
|
Rugge
|
at least in Bern and eastern Switzerland
|
/k/
|
/ʔ/
|
[ʔ]
|
naʔa
|
everywhere
|
|
/p͡f/
|
[p͡f]
|
Pfiil
|
everywhere
|
|
/t͡s/
|
[t͡s]
|
Ziit
|
everywhere
|
|
/t͡ʃ/
|
[t͡ʃ]
|
tschau
|
everywhere
|
|
/k͡x/
|
[k͡x]
|
Gschänk
|
in most High and Highest Alemannic dialects
|
/kʰ/
|
[k͡χ]
|
Gschänk
|
?
|
[q͡χ]
|
kai
|
?
|
/v̥/
|
[v̥]
|
Ofe
|
everywhere, except...
|
|
[v]
|
Vuus
|
...Issime[phonemes 1]
|
|
/f/
|
[f]
|
schnuufe
|
everywhere
|
|
/fː/
|
[fː]
|
träffe
|
at least in Bern and eastern Switzerland
|
/f/
|
/z̥/
|
[z̥]
|
Hase
|
everywhere?
|
|
/s/
|
[s]
|
Iis
|
everywhere
|
|
/sː/
|
[sː]
|
hasse
|
at least in Bern and eastern Switzerland
|
/s/
|
/ʃ/
|
[ʃ]
|
schloo
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everywhere
|
|
/ʃː/
|
[ʃː]
|
Äsche
|
at least in Bern and eastern Switzerland
|
/ʃ/
|
/x/
|
[ç]
|
Milch
|
some Low Alemannic dialects, some Liechtenstein dialects
|
[x], [χ]
|
[ɣ̊]
|
chlopfe
|
?
|
[x], [χ]
|
[x]
|
lache
|
?
|
[χ]
|
[ʁ̥]
|
Chrut
|
?
|
[x], [χ]
|
[χ]
|
choo
|
in most High and Highest Alemannic dialects
|
[x]
|
/xː/
|
[xː]
|
lache
|
at least Simmental
|
/x/
|
[χː]
|
lache
|
at least in Bern and eastern Switzerland
|
/h/
|
[h]
|
haa
|
everywhere
|
|
/ʋ/
|
[ʋ]
|
Wält
|
everywhere
|
|
/l/
|
[l]
|
moole
|
everywhere
|
|
[ɫ]
|
Wält
|
some dialects in Bern, Solothurn and central Switzerland
|
/lː/
|
[lː]
|
Müller
|
everywhere
|
/l/
|
[ɫː]
|
alles
|
some dialects in Bern, Solothurn and central Switzerland
|
/r/
|
[r]
|
|
|
|
[ɾ]
|
|
|
[ʀ]
|
|
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[ʁ]
|
|
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[ʁ̥]
|
|
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[ʁ̞]
|
|
|
[ʕ]
|
|
Thurgau, St. Gallen city
|
Suprasegmentals
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/ˈ/
|
[ˈ]
|
TODO
|
everywhere
|
|
/ˌ/
|
[ˌ]
|
|
- ^ Due to influence of the neighboring Romance languages.
Minimal pairs
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Phoneme group |
Phoneme 1 |
Phoneme 2 |
Word 1 |
Word 2 |
Distribution
|
voiceless bilabial plosive
|
/b̥/
|
/p/
|
Huube
|
huupe
|
at least in northern and eastern Switzerland
|
/b̥/
|
/pʰ/
|
Biss
|
piss
|
at least in northern and eastern Switzerland
|
/b̥/
|
/pː/
|
knaber
|
knapper
|
at least in eastern Switzerland
|
voiceless alveolar plosive
|
/d̥/
|
/t/
|
dobe
|
tobe
|
at least in northern and eastern Switzerland
|
/d̥/
|
/tʰ/
|
D (letter name)
|
Thee
|
at least in northern and eastern Switzerland
|
/d̥/
|
/tː/
|
Lade
|
Latte
|
at least in eastern Switzerland
|
glottal stop
|
/ʔ/
|
∅
|
haʔa
|
haa
|
everywhere
|
fricatives
|
/x/
|
/h/
|
chalt
|
halt
|
everywhere
|
liquids
|
/l/
|
/r/
|
Luus
|
Ruus
|
everywhere
|
References
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