Eifel rule

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The Eifeler rule is a phenomenon that was first found and described in the linguistics of the late 19th century in Eifeler dialects on the western edge of the German language area . This is where the name comes from. However, it appears in different modifications and with different degrees of clarity in other Central German dialects , for example in Luxembourgish , Kölsch or Hessian .

The rule describes a phonological process in languages ​​that ensures the elimination of a terminal - [n] from certain words in certain environments. It differs language-related and is also taken into account to a very different extent in the respective written language.

The Eifel rule can be seen as a description of a special Sandhi .

Luxembourgish

The Luxembourg spelling aims for a phonetically correct spelling. Therefore, the omission of the n is taken into account in the written rendering of the language. Today, the Eifeler Rule is therefore a spelling rule, but its correct application requires knowledge of the spoken Luxembourgish. The rule applies to words that end in -n or -nn . These endings are extremely common in verbs , the plural of nouns and certain functional words such as articles , pronouns and prepositions in Luxembourgish. Therefore, the Eifel rule has a very extensive effect.

Its basics can be described as follows: 

  • There is no ending -n (n) :
    • before all consonants except d , h , n , t , z .
      (between words): de n + ball → de ball ( the ball ), wa nn + mer start → wa mer start ( when we go ), ech si nn + rosen → ech si rosen ( I'm angry ) ...
      (in compound words): Damme n + Schong → Dammeschong ( women's shoes ), Ree n + Bou → Reebou ( rainbow ), dräi + a n + fofzeg → dräiafofzeg ( fifty-three ) ...
      Words and / or abbreviations borrowed from other languages ​​are an exception if they are pronounced in such a way that the first letter sounds like a d , h , n , t , z or a vowel: de n James Bond, de n Check-in, de n SMS text ...
  • There is no ending -n (n) :
    • before the consonants d , h , n , t , z .
      de n Tuerm ( the tower ), wa nn here n drénkt ( when he drinks ), ech si nn duuschtereg ( I am thirsty ) ...
      Grompere n zalot ( potato salad ), Ree n drëps ( raindrops ), fënnefa n drësseg ( thirty-five ) ...
    • before a vowel.
      de n Apel ( the apple ), wa nn ech start ( when I go ), ech si nn al ( I'm old ) ...
      Ouere n inflammation ( ear infection ) ...
      The Y is an exception here: The Y is compared with the second letter: if it is a vowel, the -n is dropped, otherwise it remains: de n Yvan, de Yuri ...
      Words borrowed from other languages ​​are another exception if they are pronounced in such a way that the first letter sounds like a consonant that would omit the n : de One-Night-Stand, de OneNote-Fichier ...
    • at the end of a sentence and before a punctuation mark.
      Ech hu nn (wéi gëschter) vill done. ( I worked a lot (like yesterday). )

The omission can, but does not have to be, placed before the following function words that begin with s :

säin , si / se / s , six , seng , sou and possibly others.

It is important that many word endings ending in -n or -nn are not affected by the Eifel rule:

Proper names : Schuma n , Joha nn , Münche n .
Loan words : Roma n , Maschi n (n) , all nouns that end in -ioun .
The prefix on- : o n vergiesslech ( unforgettable )
Many nouns and adjectives (for historical reasons): Mann ( man ), dënn ( thin ), Kroun ( crown ), Loun ( wages ), blann ( blind ), ...

In fact , unlike the grammatically motivated ending, the n as a consonant in the root word is generally unchanged, with notable exceptions such as:

Wäi (n) ( wine ) → Wäikeller, Stee (n) ( stone ) → Steekaul ( quarry ), schwë (nn) ( soon , quickly ).

If the ending -n in the plural is omitted from a word whose singular ends with -e , a diariesis must be used to distinguish the plural from the singular:

Chanc e (singular), Chanc en (plural in the complete form), Chanc ë (plural with application of the Eifel rule)

See also

Euphonic sounds

literature

  • Peter Gilles : Phonology of the n-deletion in Moselle Franconian ('Eifler rule'). A contribution to dialectological prosody research. In: Claudine Moulin and Damaris Nübling (eds.): Perspectives of a linguistic Luxembourg studies. Studies on diachrony and synchrony . Winter, Heidelberg 2006, p. 29-68 .
  • Cédric Krummes: 'Sinn si' or 'Si si'? Mobile-'n 'deletion in Luxembourgish. In: Alan Scott (Ed.): Papers in Linguistics from the University of Manchester: Proceedings of the 15th Postgraduate Conference in Linguistics, 3rd March 2006 . University - School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures, Manchester 2006 ( Cote LB 55442 ).
  • Henri Muller: De final N . In: Lëtzebuerger Journal 2010, No. 10 (January 15): 7 . Luxembourg 2010 (Luxembourgish, De finalen N ( Memento of May 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) [PDF]).
  • François Schanen and Jacqui Zimmer: 1,2,3 Lëtzebuergesch Grammaire . tape 3 : L'orthographe. Schortgen éditions, Esch-sur-Alzette 2006, Chapitre 8, p. 86-90 .
  • François Schanen and Jacqui Zimmer: Lëtzebuergesch Grammaire, Grammaire luxembourgeoise . Schortgen éditions, Esch-sur-Alzette 2012, Chapitre 31, p. 285 (§§ 457) -290 (§§ 464) .
  • Hermann Palms: I'm blacking out flat . Dialect and grammar examined at the Steffeler Platt. Eifelverein local group Steffeln, Steffeln 2011.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kiehl, Johannes. (2001) Regularity and variability of the n-deletion in the Lëtzebuergeschen ("Eifeler rule"). An unsupervised, inductive learning process . Master's thesis in Computational Linguistics, University of Trier.
  2. ↑ François Schanen, Jérôme Lulling: Introduction à l'orthographe luxembourgeoise. 2003, archived from the original on June 6, 2007 ; Retrieved March 15, 2014 (text in French and Luxembourgish).
  3. ↑ Grammaire de la Langue Luxembourgeoise ( Grammaire vun der Lëtzebuerger Sprooch )