German Phonetics and Phonology

Catalog description

This course examines German speech sounds and their organization into a linguistic system. GER 513 German Phonetics and Phonology (3)This course provides an overview of the major subfields of phonology as they apply to the German language. No prior knowledge of linguistics or phonology is assumed. Topics discussed include articulatory phonetics, the phoneme, distinctive features, and common phonological processes in German such as final devoicing, prosody, prosodic morphology and dialectal variation. The class will practice phonetic transcription of German and English. We will discuss common phonetic and phonological difficulties presented by German for native speakers of English. In addition to practical applications of phonetics, the class will investigate theoretical concepts such as the phoneme, distinctive features, lexical stress, the syllable and the prosodic foot. Reading assignments include scholarly articles employing different theoretical frameworks and excerpts from seminal works in the field. Frameworks to be discussed include derivational approaches and Optimality Theory. The class will also examine dialectal variation with a particular emphasis on differences between Low, Middle and Upper German dialects. Each students will make a presentation investigating the phonological system of a German dialect. Evaluation is based on problems, class presentations and a final research paper.