Pennsylvania Dutch Dialect - Pronunciation - Consonants
Follow is a composite guide to common orthography used for Pennsylvania
German writing. Following the tables are some discussion
comments. This is based on the common Buffington-Barba system and
it's subsequent derivatives (think of that as the Pennsylvania German
standard).I've included snippets of Alice Spayd in mp3 format to aid in picking up pronunciation (used with permission). These snippets are taken from the Mammi Gans CD. The book by John Brimelin, Mammi Gans, Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes, Pennsylvania Dutch and English, and accompanying CD are excellent reference material for learning correct pronunciation. Availability of the book is here.
Consonants
| character |
sound
in
English |
example |
notes |
| b (beginning or middle) |
b
in ball |
Boi | |
| -b (end) |
p
in cap |
Dieb | |
| b'h (beginning) |
p
in put |
NEED | |
| ch (after ae, ee, ie, e, i and
ei) |
a
heavier h as in inhuman or hue, a whispered k sound, (the ich sound) |
dreissich, ich | |
| ch (after aa,oo, a, o, u,and au) |
more
like sound of clearing your throat (the ach sound after back vowels) |
lacht, doch | |
| -chs |
x
in fix |
nichs (nix) | |
| d (beginning or middle) |
d
in dog |
doch | |
| d (end) |
t
in cat |
find | |
| f |
f
in fish |
froh | |
| g- (beginning) |
g
in good |
Graas | |
| g, gg (middle) |
more
like a break in the word, or like a y
sound to transition between the vowel sounds |
Regge, Daage | 1 |
| -g (end) |
ck
in brick |
Daag | 2 |
| g'h- (beginning) |
k
in kid |
g'hatt | |
| h- (beginning) |
h
in house |
hockt | |
| h (middle and end) |
not pronounced, but signifies
preceeding vowel is long |
die Kuh | |
| j |
not normally used in PG.
If used for an English loan word, like John, then pronounced like ch in chissel. |
3 |
|
| k |
k
in kid |
die Katz | |
| l |
l
in long |
lacht | |
| m |
m
in make |
die Mary | |
| n |
n
in nest |
naus | |
| ng |
always like ng in ring, never like ng in finger |
sing | |
| p |
p
in put |
die Peif | |
| q |
not normally used in PG, except
English load words, then sounds like "qwa" |
|
|
| r, rr |
like English r, but trilled or flapped once. |
ruhich | |
| -ar (before consonant) |
the r is not pronounced |
aarmer | |
| -er (before consonant) |
a
in father |
wunnert | |
| -er, -ar (endings) |
a
in father |
der Muun, waar | |
| s, ss |
always like s in sing, never like s in has |
sing, bees | 4 |
| sch |
sh
in shoe |
en Schaefli | |
| t |
t
in top |
Tietschern | |
| tsch |
ch
in chissel |
Tietschern | |
| v |
f
in fish |
vun | |
| w |
v
in vote |
waar, iwwer, die Wesch | 5 |
| x |
x
in fix |
nix | |
| y |
y
in year |
yuscht | |
| z |
ts
in hats |
zu |
note (1) - the rule for using the glide sound for g between vowels does not apply to a verb who's stem begins with g, but has ge- added as a past participle prefix. Example, gegarigelt would follow the pronunciation rules as if spelled ge-garigelt.
note (2) - contrast the ending g sounding like English k with StG ending g using the StG -ch sound.
note (3) - German words with a j would always be pronounced as y in year.
note (4) - contrast with German use of the z sound for words beginning with s like Sie.
note (5) - Prof. Stein says it's like w in water. Prof. Haldeman describes it as "a kind of v made with the lips alone". The use of the 'v' sound made with two lips, or lower lip and upper teeth, is a regional variation.
Note that Pennsylvania Dutch does not traditionally use the German double-s ess-tet character ß.
Note that Pennsylvania Dutch does not include these sounds:
- -er in her, the English "er
sound"
- j in jam, G in German (although it is approximated by 'tsch')
- w in water (except as
noted above)
- z in zebra