Notes on Pronunciation

A. Vowels in Syllables Not Having Primary Stress

Up to now we have given our attention to the vowels occurring in stressed syllables. Most of the items presented for pronunciation practice have been one or two syllables in length, although German words of six or more syllables occur. While only one syllable receives primary stress, vowels in syllables not having primary stress retain the same sound quality and length which they have when stressed. Practice the following words with your instructor, making sure that your imitation of all vowel sounds in each word is accurate:

Practice 1

Umweg	Amerika	Konsulat
Autobus	Museum	Amerikanerin
Schreibmaschine	politisch	Universität
Heimatstadt	Verabredung	Sekretärin
Wiedersehen	Spaziergang	Bibliothek

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B. Review

Continuing the review of difficult pronunciation features begun in Unit 6 here are two troublesome vowel contrasts: short -a- and short -o-, and long -i- and long -e-:

Practice 2

Kasten – kosten		sieht – seht
lachen – lochen		Wiesen – Wesen
Tanne – Tonne		liegen – legen

An important and often difficult consonant contrast is that between the ich- or ach-sounds on the one hand and the k-sound on the other:

Practice 3

Augenblick – wahrscheinlich		backen – machen
sickert – sichert		Doktor – Tochter
direkt – recht		Akt – acht
drückte – Süchte		druckt – Sucht

The following items provide additional practice in post-vocalic r and post-vocalic l:

Practice 4

Tier	wird		viel	hilft
mehr	Herz	für	Mehl	Welt
Paar	hart	führt	mal	halb
vor	Dorf	höher	wohl	Golf
Kur	Durst	hört	Pfuhl	Schuld

The following provides review in the practice of pre-vocalic r:

Practice 5

Papiere	zufrieden	höre
leere	reden	Grösse
Jahre	rauchen	führe
bohre	Büro	berühmt
Fuhre	rufen	grüsse