Luxembourgish phonology

This article aims to describe the phonology and phonetics of central Luxembourgish, which is regarded as the emerging standard.[1]

Consonants

The consonant inventory of Luxembourgish is quite similar to that of Standard German.[1]

Consonant phonemes of Luxembourgish[1]
Labial Alveolar Postalveolar Dorsal Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ
Plosive fortis p t k
lenis b d ɡ
Affricate voiceless (p͡f) t͡s t͡ʃ
voiced (d͡z) (d͡ʒ)
Fricative voiceless f s ʃ χ h
voiced v z ʒ ʁ
Rhotic ʀ
Approximant l j

In external sandhi, syllable-final /n/ is deleted unless followed by [n t d t͡s h], with few exceptions. Furthermore, some unusual consonant clusters may arise post-lexically after cliticisation of the definite article d' (for feminine, neuter and plural forms), e.g. d'Land [dlɑnt] ('the country') or d'Kräiz [tkʀæːɪ̯t͡s] ('the cross').[3]

Word-final obstruents

Phonetically, word-final /b, d, dʒ, ɡ, v, z, ʒ, ʁ/ are realized exactly the same as /p, t, tʃ, k, f, s, ʃ, χ/. In most cases, they are realized the same as the main allophones of /p, t, tʃ, k, f, s, ʃ, χ/ (i.e. voiceless), but when the next word begins with a vowel and is pronounced without a pause, they are realized the same as the main allophones of /b, d, dʒ, ɡ, v, z, ʒ, ʁ/, i.e. voiced and are resyllabified, that is, moved to the onset of the first syllable of the next word (the same happens with the non-native affricate /pf/, which is also voiced to [bv]). For instance, sech eens is pronounced [zəˈʑeːns],[7] although this article transcribes it [zəʑ‿ˈeːns] for simplicity.

Pronunciation of the letter g

In Luxembourgish, the letter g has no fewer than nine possible pronunciations, depending both on the origin of a word and the phonetic environment of g. By the now very common mergers of [ʒ] and [ʑ], as well as [ʃ] and [ɕ], this number may be reduced to seven, however. The pronunciation [j] is also (generally) not obligatory but a common allophone of [ʑ] in the environment indicated below.

IPA Applies in Phonetic environment Example IPA Meaning
ɡ native and German words stem-initially géi [ɡɜɪ̯] go
ɡ few German words stem-internally Drogen [ˈdʀoːɡən] drugs
ɡ French words stem-initially and internally before written a, o, u, or consonant Negatioun [neɡɑˈsjəʊ̯n] negation
k French and few German words word-finally Drog [dʀoːk] drug
ʃ French words word-finally before mute e Plage [plaːʃ] beach
ʒ French words stem-initially and internally before written e or i originell [oʀiʒiˈnæl] original
ɕ native and most German words word-finally after consonants and non-back vowels except [aː] bëlleg [ˈbələɕ] cheap
ʑ native and most German words stem-internally after consonants and non-back vowels except [aː] Verfügung [fɐˈfyːʑuŋ] disposal
χ native and most German words word-finally after back vowels and [aː] Dag [daːχ] day
ʁ native and most German words stem-internally after back vowels and [aː] Lager [ˈlaːʁɐ] store
j native and most German words in the unstressed sequences [əjə] and [əjɐ] bëllegen [ˈbələjən] cheap [inflected]

Vowels

Monophthongs

Monophthong phonemes as well as four allophones [e, ə, ɛː, ɐ] of Luxembourgish on a vowel chart. Adapted from Gilles & Trouvain (2013:70). The non-native /y, yː, øː, œ, œː/ nor /õː, ɛ̃ː, ɑ̃ː/ are not shown.
Monophthong phonemes[8]
Front Back
unrounded rounded
short long short long short long
Close i (y) () u
Close-mid e (øː) o
Open-mid (œ) (œː)
Open æ ɑ

Trouvain & Gilles (2009) transcribe /ə, ɑ̃ː/ as /ë, ãː/.[2]

Diphthongs

Diphthong phonemes of Luxembourgish on a vowel chart. Adapted from Gilles & Trouvain (2013:71). The non-native /oɪ/ is not shown.
Diphthong phonemes[9]
Ending point
Front Central Back
Close iə uə
Mid ɜɪ (oɪ) əʊ
Open æːɪ ɑɪ æːʊ ɑʊ

Trouvain & Gilles (2009) transcribe /ɜɪ, oɪ, æːɪ, æːʊ/ as /eɪ, ɔɪ, æˑɪ, æˑʊ/.[2]

The /æːɪ–ɑɪ/ and /æːʊ–ɑʊ/ contrasts arose from the former lexical tone contrast; the shorter /ɑɪ, ɑʊ/ were used in words with Accent 1, whereas the lengthened /æːɪ, æːʊ/ were used in words with Accent 2.[10]

Additional phonetic diphthongs arise after vocalisation of /ʀ/.[9] These are [iːɐ, uːɐ, oːɐ, ɛːɐ]. However, the sequence /aːʀ/ is realized the same as long /aː/, unless a vowel follows within the same word.

Spelling IPA Example
a ɑ Kapp
Kap
aa waarm
ä æ Käpp
e Decken
ə liesen
ë hëllefen
é e drécken
ee Been
i i Gitt
siwen
ii Kiischt
o o Sonn
droleg
So
oo Sprooch
u u Hutt
Tut
uu Luucht

Spelling IPA Example
ai ɑɪ̯ Gebai
ei deier
éi ɜɪ̯ Schnéi
au ɑʊ̯ Mauer
æːʊ̯ Maul
äi æːɪ̯ räich
ou əʊ̯ Schoul
ie iə̯ liesen
ue uə̯ Buedem

Note that the letter é today represents the same sound as ë before ch. The ostensibly inconsistent spelling é is based on the traditional, now widely obsolete pronunciation of the sound represented by ch as a palatal [ç]. As this consonant is pronounced further back in the mouth, it triggered the use of the front allophone of /e/ (that is [e]) as is the case before the velars (/k, ŋ/). Since the more forward alveolo-palatal [ɕ] has replaced the palatal [ç] for almost all speakers, the allophone [ə] is used as before any non-velar consonant. So the word mécht ('[he] makes'), which is now pronounced [məɕt], used to be pronounced [meçt]; this is the reason for the spelling. The spelling mëcht, which reflects the contemporary pronunciation is not yet standard.

References

Bibliography

Further reading

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