Bühnendeutsch
Bühnendeutsch
Main page

Bühnendeutsch

logo
Community Hub0 subscribers
What are your thoughts?
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Bühnendeutsch

Bühnendeutsch (German: [ˈbyːnənˌdɔʏtʃ], 'stage German') or Bühnenaussprache (IPA: [ˈbyːnənˌʔaʊsʃpʁaːxə] , 'stage pronunciation') is a unified set of pronunciation rules for the German literary language used in the theatre of the German Sprachraum. Established in the 19th century, it came to be considered pure High German. It was codified in the pronouncing dictionary Deutsche Bühnenaussprache, edited by the German scholar Theodor Siebs, and first published in 1898.

An artificial standard not corresponding directly to any dialect, Bühnendeutsch is mostly based on Standard German as spoken in Northern Germany. For example, the suffix -ig is pronounced [ɪç].

Until 1957, only two pronunciations were allowed: an alveolar trill [r] and an alveolar flap [ɾ]. After 1957, a uvular trill [ʀ] was also allowed. A voiced uvular fricative [ʁ], used extensively in contemporary Standard German, is not allowed. Therefore, rot ('red') can be pronounced [roːt], [ɾoːt] and [ʀoːt] but not [ʁoːt].

The vocalized [ɐ̯] realization of /r/ found in German or Austrian Standard German corresponds to [r ~ ɾ ~ ʀ] in Bühnendeutsch so für 'for' is pronounced [fyːr ~ fyːɾ ~ fyːʀ] rather than [fyːɐ̯].

Whenever the sequence /ər/ is vocalized to [ɐ] in German or Austrian Standard German, Bühnendeutsch requires a sequence [ər ~ əɾ ~ əʀ] so besser 'better' is pronounced [ˈbɛsər ~ ˈbɛsəɾ ~ ˈbɛsəʀ] rather than [ˈbɛsɐ].

In contemporary Standard German, both of these features are found almost exclusively in Switzerland.

Contrary to Standard German, /ə/ cannot be elided before a sonorant consonant (making it syllabic) so Faden 'yarn' is pronounced [ˈfaːdən] rather than the standard [ˈfaːdn̩].

In loanwords from Latin and Ancient Greek, the word-final /ə/ is realized as a short, tense [e] so Psyche 'psyche' is pronounced [ˈpsyːçe] rather than the standard [ˈpsyːçə].

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.