INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET (IPA): GERMAN DICTION

INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET (IPA): GERMAN DICTION
with examples from Bach’s St. Matthew Passion
Amy Kaiser 9/15/97
ɑ
no English equivalent; brighter, shorter than “father”, toward “fat”
Klagen, Lamm, was, an, allzeit, Grabe, lass
ɔ
open ‘o’, as in English “cough”; Gott, ob, soll, verbrochen, Volk, von, Donner, Wolken
o
closed ‘o’. no English equivalent; same as French “beau”: Wohm, Schoss, Tod, so, Sohn
ɶ
open “ö” as in English “earth” (form lips for ɔ and pronounce ɛ): eröffne, plötzlicher, mördrische,
Töchter
ɸ
closed ‘ö’ same as French “feu” (form lips for o and pronounce e): König, schön, höchster
ɛ
open ‘e’, as in English “sell”, “red”
setzen, Herr, helfe, Wenn, herfür, sterbet, Schmerz, beste, Netz, erkenne
when spelled ‘ä’ it is pronounced higher and brighter: hätte, Händen, Verräter, Tränen
e
closed ‘e’. like Scottish “day”, same as French “parler” (form lips for i and pronounce e)
g’scheh, er, den, Jesu, werde, sehet, schwer, Wege, Elias, bequemes, Seele
ə
“schwa” or mute ‘e’ as in English “the”, “vanilla”
rufen, Grabe, Seele, werde, gegeben
ɪ
open ‘i’ as in British “sit”
ist, in, im, dich, sich, Hirte, Milch, nimm, Himmel, will, hilft
i
closed ‘ i’ as in English “seen”, “machine”: ihn, ihm, ihr, dir, dies, hier, dienet, Lieb, Glieder
ʊ
open ‘u’ as in English “foot”: uns, um, und, schlummern, Wunden, Luft, Geduld, Schuld, Mund
ʏ
open ‘ü’ (shape mouth for ʊ and pronounce ɪ): Sünden, Tücken, lüstet, Jünger
u
closed ‘u’ as in English “moon”: nur, du, zu, Gut, Ursach, Jesu, Blut, suchen, schlug, ruhe, Fuss
y
closed ‘ü’ (shape mouth for ‘u’ and pronounce ɪ ) : vergnügt, gegrüsset, Lügen, büssen, für
DIPTHONGS
ɑ:ɪ
same as English “mine”: ein, sein, Leichenstein, Urteil, Geist
ɔ:ɪ
same as English “boy”: Kreuz, scheut, verleugne, äussert, Bräutigam, Freund
ɑ:u
same as English “now”: auf, ausgestanden, glauben, baut, Lauf
SPECIAL NOTE ON UNSTRESSED ‘E’ VOWELS
‘e’ vowels in prefixes or suffixes (setzen, finden, geschlagen, verglichen) may be in between a schwa [ə]
and an open ‘e’ [ɛ] depending on how long they are sung and on how high a pitch
CONSONANTS
b, d, g and s are unvoiced when they occur in certain positions, particularly at ends of words
(b=p, d=t, g=k, s=s) Schuld, wird, Tod, herab, Grab, schlug, bin’s, allertreusten, Fest
otherwise, b, d, g and s are voiced (s=z) Leben, Erden, Todes, gleich, verleugne, siehe, gesagt
ʃ
as in English ‘sh’: German sch, or ‘s’ before p or t; schuldig, scheut, Spott, steig
v is always pronounced as an English ‘f’: voll, von, Volk, verachte
w is always pronounced as an English ‘v’: wohl, wahrlich, was, will, Wut
z is always pronounced as an English ‘ts’: kreuzigen, zu, zart, Zeit, Herzliebster
ç
soft ‘ch’; no English equivalent: like ‘h’ in “hugo”, or tiger hiss
(back of tongue meets soft palate) Töchter; ich, dich, nicht, Milch, züchtiget, gleich, Knechte,
König, durch
x
hard ‘ch’ after the vowels a, o, u and au; like gentle gargling: gedacht, doch, suchen, auch
r
usually pronounced in singing with one flip of the tongue: ruhe, Urteil, geraten
occasionally omitted (unimportant syllables or awkwardness at fast tempi):
teuer verkauft, verschlinge, zerschelle
sometimes trilled on important words: kreuzigen
DOUBLE CONSONANTS
these should be sustained and the preceding vowel shortened
Himmel, schlummern, Lamm, dass, Wasser, Hölle
ELISION
there must be a tiny break (glottal stop) before any German word beginning with a vowel
setzen / uns; dem / ängstichen; Blut / und; lass / ihn
all consonants are usually pronounced (ie, there is no elision except at fast tempi)
ist der; und die; Holz zum