“Liquid vocalisation” in German
“Herr Wirt, vier Bier will ich: viere und schnell!”
David Djabbari, Benjamin Fischer, Tina Hildenbrandt, Friedrich Neubarth,
John Rennison (all contactable via [email protected])
Dept. of Linguistics, University of Vienna
It has long been known that the liquids /r/ and /l/ in the Bavarian (i.e. more eastern) Austrian
dialects of German a) do things to preceding vowels and b) like to disappear. In this paper we
would like to examine both processes with respect to both of the liquids and draw some
conclusion for the representations of segments and length, and for the phenomenon of
complementary length (“isochrony”).
The sentence in our subtitle exemplifies all 4 scenarios:
1
2
hɛːɐ viɐd̥ː
3
fiːɐ
4
b̥iːɐ
5
vyːli
6
7
8
fiːɐrɛ und̥ ʃnøː
Herr Wirt
vier Bier
will-ich viere
Mr. publican four bier(s) want-I four
und schnell
and fast
a)
What happens to preceding vowels?
/r/ induces a low central offglide [ɐ], as in the words 1,2,3,4,6.
/l/ induces rounding (if the vowel was not already rounded), as in the words 5 and 8.
b)
When and how do the liquids disappear?
/r/ disappears before a licensed empty nucleus, i.e. finally (as in 1,3,4) and
preconsonantally (as in 2). But before a full vowel (as in 6) or an unlicensed empty
nucleus (as in vɔ̜ndɐrɐ ‹Wanderer› ‘wanderer’) /r/ is preserved.
/l/ disappears completely before a licensed empty nucleus if the vowel preceding it
contains an I element (as in 8); if the preceding vowel does not contain an I element, an
[ɪ] offglide appears, as in ʃuːɪ ‘Schul(e)’ ‘school’. Before a full vowel (as in 5, with the
cliticised pronoun) /l/ is preserved
More formally, we propose that /r/ transmits its A element and /l/ its U element to the
preceding nucleus. The A element transmitted by /r/ does not merge with the melody of the
preceding vowel, but is interpreted separately as a low offglide. (Rare words like b̥aːg̥ː ‹Park›
‘park’ or b̥aːd̥ːi ‹Party› ‘party’ with a sole A in the nucleus also show this effect, and also
superficially violate isochrony.) The U element transmitted by /l/ merges with the elements
already present. If an empty nucleus following the liquid is licensed, and hence cannot license
the onset itself, the A element which we assume to define an onset as a liquid cannot receive a
phonetic interpretation. Either that position is not interpreted at all, or with /l/ the I-element
can induce an interpretation as a glide. The effects associated with /l/-vocalisation are not
necessarily linked to each other. This can be demonstrated with some Styrian dialects, where
we find U-spreading but no reduction (ʃnøl ‹schnell› ‘fast’), i.e. process a) but not b). Thus,
the “liquid vocalisation” is a myth, or at best a dangerous oversimplification.