Plautdietsch phonology

## Consonants

Where symbols for consonants occur in pairs, the left represents the voiceless consonant and the right represents the voiced consonant. Observations: According to the spelling system of De Bibel these sounds are spelled as follows:

1. /ɲ/ – ⟨nj⟩ as in *Kjinja* ("children")
2. /ŋ/ – ⟨ng⟩ as in *Hunga* ("hunger")
3. /c ɟ/ – ⟨kj⟩ and ⟨gj⟩ as in *Kjoakj* ("church") and *Brigj* ("bridge")
4. /ʔ/ – no letter, but has to be used if a word that begins with a vowel or a prefix is added to a word which by itself starts with a vowel: ve'achten (to despise)
5. /f v/ – /f/ can be written as ⟨f⟩ or ⟨v⟩: *Fada* ("male cousin"), *Voda* ("father"). The only criterion is the spelling of these words in German. /v/ is spelled ⟨w⟩ as in German: *Wota* ("water")
6. /s z/ – at the beginning of a word and between vowels /z/ is written ⟨s⟩: *sajen* ("to say"), *läsen* ("to read"). The /s/ sound is written ⟨z⟩ at the beginning of a word (where some speakers pronounce it [ts]), ⟨ss⟩ between vowels and final after a short vowel: *Zocka* ("sugar"), *waussen* ("to grow"), *Oss* ("ox"). At the end of a word after a long vowel or consonant both are written ⟨s⟩, the reader has to know the word to pronounce the correct sound: *Hos* /hoz/ ("rabbit"), *Os* /os/ ("carrion").
7. /ʃ ʒ/ – ⟨sch⟩ and ⟨zh⟩ as in *School* ("school") and *ruzhen* ("rush"). ⟨sp⟩ and ⟨st⟩ represent /ʃp/ and /ʃt/ at the beginning of a word and if a prefix is attached to a word starting with ⟨sp⟩ or ⟨st⟩: *spälen* ("to play") *bestalen* ("to order").
8. /ç j/ – ⟨j⟩ as in *Joa* ("year"). The /ç/ sound is written ⟨ch⟩ after consonants, ⟨e⟩, ⟨i⟩ and ⟨äa⟩: *Erfolch* ("success"), *Jesecht* ("face"), *Jewicht* ("weight"), *läach* ("low"). After ⟨a⟩, it is written ⟨jch⟩ to differentiate it from /x/: *rajcht* ("right")
9. /x ɣ/ – /x/ is written ⟨ch⟩, only occurs after back vowels: *Dach* ("day"), *Loch* ("hole"). [ɣ] (an allophone of /ɡ/) is rendered ⟨g⟩ between vowels and final: *froagen* ("to ask"), *vondoag* ("today"). At the beginning of a word and before consonants, g has the [ɡ] sound.
10. /ɾ ɹ/ – ⟨r⟩ is a flap (like the Spanish r), or depending on the person, even a trill (like Spanish ⟨rr⟩), before vowels: *root* ("red"), *groot* ("big"), *Liera* ("teacher"); /ɹ/ pronounced as an approximant (English r) before a consonant, at the end and in the -ren endings of Old Colony speakers: *kort* ("short"), *ar* ("her"), *hieren* ("to hear"). The uvular German r [ʀ] is not heard in Plautdietsch.
11. /l ɫ/ – [ɫ] is an allophone of [l] that occurs after vowels in words like *Baul* and *well*.

## Vowels

The vowel inventory of Plautdietsch is large, with 13 simple vowels, 10 diphthongs and one triphthong.

Vowels in Plautdietsch

* /y/ is rounded and is heard only in the Old Colony and Bergthal groups.
* This table gives only a very general idea of Plautdietsch vowels, as their exact phonetic realizations vary considerably from dialect to dialect, although these differences are poorly documented. For instance, in the Canadian Old Colony dialect, /ɪ, ɛ/ are strongly lowered to [ɛ, æ], /ʊ/ is mid-centralized to [ɵ̞], whereas there is hardly any difference between /a/ and /ɔ/ (there is no /ɑ/ in that variety), with both being pronounced [ɐ] or [ɑ], although they are probably still distinguished by length and F3 values. Traditionally, Plautdietsch has been said to not have phonemic vowel length.