Pennsylvania Dutch Dialect - Pronunication - Vowels
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). It's based mostly on the conventions of German
orthography.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.
Note that the examples were pulled out of context from the nursery rhymes, so you'll hear different inflections based on what was being said. They are not part of the words themselves.
If you do not have something to play mp3's, I'd recommend downloading the free Winamp player from here (pick the free version without the extra song). If the web browser asks if you always want to just open mp3 files (with Winamp or whatever you pick), I'd suggest answering yes so that you can browse the listing faster.
Vowels - short
| character |
sound
in
English |
example |
notes |
| a |
a
in father |
fatt, die Katz | |
| ae |
a
in fat |
en Schaefli |
1 |
| e |
e
in wet |
die Wesch | |
| -e (ending of a word) |
a
in extra |
esse | |
| i |
i
in sit |
nix | |
| o |
o
in son |
hot | |
| u |
u
in put |
wunnert |
Vowels -
long
| character |
sound
in
English |
example |
notes |
| aa or aah |
aw
in saw |
yaagt, waar, aa, die Fraa | |
| e, ee, eeh, eh |
ai
in fail |
bees, Schnee | |
| ae |
ea
in bear |
die Maed, naegscht | 2 |
| ih, ie, ieh |
ie
in believe |
liewes, Dieb | |
| o, oo,oh |
o
in so |
froh, noh | |
| u, uu, uh |
u
in July |
schtuhl, der Muun |
Vowels - dipthongs
| character |
sound
in
English |
example |
notes |
| au |
ou
in house |
sauwer | |
| ei |
ei
in height |
weiss | |
| oi |
oi
in oil |
Boi | 3 |
note (1) the short ae sound is often used from English loan words. It probably could be written as a 'æ' to avoid confusion, except that's not a normal keyboard key! An interesting discussion is here.
note (2) or like a in made.
note (3) contrast this with Standard German äu or eu for the oi sound. Prof. Haldeman's book on Pennsylvania Dutch used ai for this sound in 1872.
Different Pennsylvania German grammars and dictionaries will give slightly different English equivalents. I picked the ones that are the most distinct to me. That is, if I use the vowel sounds from where I grew up in Pennsylvania, some of the explanations result in the same sound to me. There are also known regional differences in the dialect. Use the sound clips, or a local speaker, to clarify.
The indication of whether a vowel is long or short is shown in different ways. Adding an h or doubling the vowel force a long vowel sound. A vowel before two consonants or a single final consonant are generally short. The vowels ae, e, o, and u are long before a single middle consonant. Some books do not show ae being used as a long vowel.
Note that in the Buffington/Barba system (1954), a vowel is short before a final consonant "unless the Standard German has a long instead of a short vowel". That's obviously a weakness, if it requires prior knowledge of the SG equivalent! Given this, it's peculiar that Professor Earl C. Haag, in his preface to A Pennsylvania German Anthology (1988) calls the Buffington/Barba system, "a system employing German sound values but by no means dictating a previous knowledge of standard German".
In a note in the preface of Bilder un Gedanke, Volume IX of the Pennsylvania German Society, (1975), a note says "Generally, the orthography set forth in the Buffington-Barba Pennsylvania German Grammar (The Pennsylvania German Folklore Society, XXVII, 1963) is used. Dr. Ralph Charles Wood's translation of The Four Gospels (The Pennsylvania German Society, I, 1968) is the basis for some changes: war for waer (the interrogative who or the indefinite compound relative pronoun whoever; likewise, Ard for Aerd, wart for waert, dar for daer, har for haer, garn for gaern), is for iss, as (the relative pronoun, also wu) for ass (still the conjunction that), and leie for leige." It looks like many of these changes to the orthography were not later adopted..
Note that there are no silent vowels at the end of words in German. If the word ends in -e, it is sounded out.
Note that Pennsylvania German does not use the umlaut vowels ä, ö, or ü, although, since they are just short-hand for the vowel followed by the letter e, one could imagine using ä use for ae. But again, for practical purposes, it is written out.
For myself, I find it difficult to use examples of vowels followed by an r to describe words without an r, and vis-versa.