Consonant clusters
The consonants cluster (also consonant cluster ) referred to in the linguistics the succession of two or more consonant phoneme . In the German language, the phoneme sequence / ʃpr / in the word language is a consonant cluster. A consonant cluster made up of two consonants in the same syllable is also called double consonance .
The consonant clusters that are allowed in a particular language follow certain rules. These are described in the phonological sub-discipline phonotactics and accordingly called phonotactic rules .
Cluster of consonants
Phonetics of consonant clusters in German
Phonetically, one can distinguish four types of consonant clusters:
- Clusters that occur at the beginning of the syllable (example: [ʃpʀ] in language )
- Clusters that follow short vowels in the syllable joint or at the end of the syllable ([ʁçt] in fear )
- Clusters that follow long vowels in the syllable joint or at the end of the syllable ([dl] in eagles )
- Clusters that occur in inflected forms of verbs and adjectives and have no influence on the vowel length ([lst] in feel , fill and coolest )
Orthography of certain consonant phoneme combinations in the German language
Writing and sound levels are often not kept apart in everyday understanding. Some connections of consonant phonemes in the German language do not appear as connections of consonants on the graphematic level.
In the consonant letters x and z is consonant cluster of the two consonant phonemes / k / and / s / or / t / and / s / . In this case, the phonetic connection / ks / is represented by a graph , i.e. H. by a single letter , namely x shown, the sound combination / ts / by the grapheme z .
For such consonant phoneme clusters, which correspond to only one grapheme, there is currently no fixed term (in analogy to di-, trigraphs etc., see below). Sometimes consonant phoneme combinations of plosive and fricative are called homorgane or heterorgane affricates .
Language comparison
German is particularly rich in consonant clusters. Some other languages know much less about it. The only consonant clusters in standard Chinese, for example, are the six easily confused initial affricates:
- [tɕ] (example: 教, pinyin : jiào, teaching)
- [tɕʰ] (秋, qiū, autumn)
- [ts] (字, zì, characters)
- [tsʰ] (此, cǐ, dies)
- [tʂ] (中, zhōng, middle)
- [tʂʰ] (春, chūn, spring)
The final nasal [ŋ] is - although it is represented as <ng> in the Pinyin description - a single consonant. As such, standard Chinese has no consonant clusters at all.
Cluster of consonant letters (Mehrgraphs) in German
Multi-graphs that correspond to a single phone
While the term consonant cluster denotes a sequence of consonant phonemes , the German term consonant accumulation is sometimes used to denote the sequence of two consonant letters , ie multi-graphs that actually only correspond to a single phoneme. An example of this is the word please , pronounced / ˈbɪtə /. The rules, on the basis of which the word please is written with a double consonant, are examined in graphic photography , among other things .
- Example: sing . In ng is two consecutive consonant letters or Konsonantengrapheme. These form a graphematic "consonant accumulation" (consonant letter accumulation or consonant graph accumulation) in German. This sound group corresponds to a single sound (phoneme in this case / ŋ / ), ie, it is not, this is a consonant cluster in the true (phonetic) sense of the word, but a directed graph.
With clusters of letters that only correspond to a single phoneme (consonant or vowel phoneme ), one generally speaks of multi-graphs.
Depending on the number of letters that are used to represent a single phoneme, ie a single sound, one speaks of di- or trigraph.
Examples of German di- or trigraphs:
- sch corresponds to the phoneme / ʃ / in the word Sch ule .
- ph corresponds to the phoneme / f / in the word Gra ph em .
- PP corresponds to the phoneme / p / in the word La pp s .
- ie corresponds to the phoneme / i / in the word L ie be .
- ch corresponds to the phoneme / x / in the word Ba ch .
Types of multi-graphs
Graphically, one can distinguish four types of clusters of consonant letters in German:
- Clusters that occur at the beginning of the syllable (example: str in stocking )
- Clusters that are in the syllable joint or at the end of the syllable and indicate that the preceding vowel is spoken briefly (ckt in naked [nakt])
- Clusters that are in the syllable joint or at the end of the syllable and indicate that the preceding vowel is spoken long (gd in Magd [maːkt])
- Clusters that occur in the syllable joint or at the end of the syllable of inflected forms of verbs and adjectives (ß in greets and largest )
The multiple graphs in detail
Here is an overview of typical multi-graphs and clusters of consonant letters in German. Multi-graphs that only appear in words of non-Germanic origin ( loan and foreign words ) are formatted in purple .
| Initial sound | Syllable joint / final | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Cluster | Examples | Cluster | Examples |
| bl, br | blue , bread | bb, bs, bsch, bst, bt | Crab , cancer , pretty , fruit , dept |
| ch , chl , chr | Chorus , chlorine , chrome | ch, chs, cht, ck, ckt | laugh , fox , eight , mosquito , naked |
| dr, dw | three , dwog | dd, dm, dt | Aries , dedicate , city |
| fl, fr | fly , free | ff, ffn, ft | hope , open , often |
| gl, gn, gr | smooth , grace , gray | gd, gg, gl, gm , gn, gr , gs, gt | Maid , harrow , any , dogma , deny , pogrom , quick , bailiff |
| kh , khm , kl, kn, kr | Khaki , Khmer , small , knee , chalk | kl , kn , kr , ks , kt | Cycle , acne , okra , coke , act |
| lb, lch, ld, lf, lg, lk, ll, lm, ln, lp, ls, lsch, lt, lv , lz | yellow , milk , gold , eleven , follow , withered , all , elm , iron , puppy , than , wrong , world , volley , mushroom | ||
| mb, md, mm, mn , mp, mpf, mph , mphl , ms, msch, mt | Bomb , shirt , lamb , hymn , lamp , steam , triumph , pamphlet , doublet , junk , velvet | ||
| nch, nd, nf, nft, ng, ngl, ngs, ngst, nk, nkt, nn, ns, nsch, nst, nt, nx , nz | Monk , dog , hemp , guild , long , angler , however , fear , thanks , point , run , lens , wish , favor , colorful , sphinx , dance | ||
| pf ,pfl, pfr, pl, pn , pr, ps | Peacock , plum , plug , flat , pneumatic , price , psalm | pl , pp, ps , psch, pst , pt | Diploma , lip , capsule , grabbing , pope , head |
| ph , phl , phr | Physics , phlox , phrase | ph , phth | Graphics , diphtheria |
| rb, rbs, rbst, rch, rcht, rd, rf, rft, rg, rk, rkt, rl, rm, rn, rnst, rnt, rp, rph , rpt , rr, rrh , rs, rsch, rst, rt, rv , rz, rzt | Scar , pea , autumn , listen , fear , earth , sharp , shipyard , arg , work , market , pearl , tower , core , seriously , harvest , drake , morphine , excerpt , tangled , myrrh , millet , deer , forest , word , Curve , heart , doctor | ||
| rh | rheumatism | rh | catarrh |
| sk , skl , skr , sl , sp, sph , spl, spr, st, str, sz | Skat , slave , scruple , slavic , game , sphere , splinter , speak , steep , punishment , scene | sk, sp, sph , ss, st | Muscle , wasp , phosphorus , wet , cough |
| sch, schr, schm, schr, schr, schw | beautiful , snake , narrow , snow , oblique , black | sch, scht | quick , spray |
| th , thr | Subject , throne | th , thl , thn | Math , athlete , ethnic |
| tr | loyal to | tm, ts, ch, tt, tw, tz, tzt | breathe , always , German , bed , widow , cat , now |
| from left | fleece | ||
| wr | wring | ||
| xt | Axe | ||
| between | two | ||
The table does not take into account inflection and derivative forms of words and compound words . Many more clusters of consonant letters are possible there. Connections that contain an elongation h are also not taken into account. (If you only pay attention to the mere sequence of consonant letters, popular language games can be used, e.g. "Which German word has the most consecutive consonant letters?": In Duden , one of the German words with the longest sequence of consonant letters is fear sweat with 8 Consonant letters in sequence.)
Historical forms of writing are still not taken into account. The baroque , for example, had a preference for lush clusters of consonant letters ( gantz , Vernunfft , think ), which, however , have not survived (except in family and geographical names and in terms derived from them such as Bismarckhering , Wurtzit ).
Web links
- Sounds and letters: consonant clusters instructional video