Tongue-twister

A tongue twister is a particular phrase that is difficult to pronounce quickly and repeatedly, even for native speakers. Often they are similar words that follow one another but differ in certain syllables. Also alliterations are common. However, some tongue twisters are rather difficult due to their unusual word composition (sentence structure) and therefore require greater concentration. Tongue twisters are said on the one hand for amusement, but on the other hand they also serve as an articulation exercise for professional speakers such as television and radio presenters.

Examples

Tongue twisters on a postcard

Red cabbage remains red cabbage and wedding dress remains wedding dress.
Fischers Fritz fishes fresh fish, Fischers Fritz fishes fresh fish.
In Ulm , around Ulm and around Ulm.
The whiskey mixer mixes the whiskey. The whiskey mixer mixes the whiskey.
The nimble finches peck hard in the thick spruce thicket.
The Cottbus stagecoach driver cleans the Cottbus stagecoach box.
The rooster stares at the hen, the hen stares at the rooster.
Church ships donated by boatmen hang in the nave of the Schifferkirche .
The little chattering chaplain sticks folding, pop-up cardboard posters to the clattering chapel wall.
Two chirping swallows sit between two branches of plum.
Sixty Czech chemists check computational technical schemes.
The nasty Frisian tiler tiles with nasty Frisian tile adhesive.
When Hessians eat food in Essen, Hessen eats food in Essen.
The cat kicks the stairs crooked, the cat kicks the stairs crooked.
Jailer Kerkeling crawls sticky bodies, sticky bodies crawls Jailer Kerkeling.
On the tenth ten ten ten o'clock ten tame goats dragged ten hundred pounds of sugar to the zoo.

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Examples (dialect)

Some Upper German dialects (such as Bavarian ) have in the course of their development caused various clusters of consonants due to the loss of unstressed vowels , which are well suited for the formation of tongue twisters. Here are some examples from Swiss German :

De Paapscht hät z Schpiez s Schpäckschpickpschtellt z schpaat pscht. ( "The Pope has in Spiez the bacon spiking ordered too late cutlery are.")
Schträzt it z Züri? ("Is it raining in Zurich?" - four times [ts] in a row.)
S choge slice of Chuchichäschtli slimes. ("The stupid kitchen cabinet is stuck.")
Gang gang gredi gäge Gümlige go gugge, g'ob Göde Gödels Geranium gang no gäge Gümlige gugge. ("Always go straight to Gümligen and see whether Göde Gödel's geraniums are still looking at Gümligen.")
Z Schwyz am Ziit schiind d Sunne, and schiind si nid z Schwyz, so schiind si z Brunne. ("In Schwyz the sun shines on the church clock, and if it doesn't shine in Schwyz, it shines in the fountain.")
Dür drü düri lähri Röhrli lehrä d Lüüt avenged redä. ("People learn to speak correctly through three dry, empty straws.")

In addition:

Schelle Se net to sellerer Schell, selle Schell net rings, Schelle Se to sellerer Schell, selle Schell rings. (Dialect from Baden and Swabian)
A Mammaladeamerle hamma a daham. (“We also have a jam bucket at home.”) This southern German tongue twister should be spoken as quickly as possible; it then sounds slightly “Arabic”.
D'r Babschd hot's Schbätzle-Bschdeck z'schbäd b'schdelld. (Swabian version of the Swiss German variant, varies with a local dish.)

literature

Hadumod Bußmann (Ed.): Lexicon of Linguistics. 3rd updated and expanded edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-520-45203-0 .
Duden. German universal dictionary. 6th revised and expanded edition. Dudenverlag, Mannheim et al. 2007, ISBN 978-3-411-05506-7 .
Helmut Glück (Ed.), With the collaboration of Friederike Schmöe : Metzler Lexikon Sprache. 3rd revised edition. Metzler, Stuttgart et al. 2005, ISBN 3-476-02056-8 .
Gerhard Henschel : tongue twister. Tempo, Hamburg 2017, ISBN 978-3-455-00112-9 .