Standard German - Phonology

Phonology

Pronunciation of Standard German was first prescribed in 1898 in the Deutsche Bühnenaussprache of Theodor Siebs – originally intended only for the field of theatre and movies (Bühne = stage). In Siebs' pronunciation, the phoneme /r/ was given a pronunciation of, while regional variants are permissible in contemporary Standard German. In many ways the pronunciation is derived from the Low German pronunciation, for example, the written suffix "-ig" is given the pronunciation identical to "-ich," which is contrary to common usage in southern parts of the German dialect continuum that pronounce it like "-ik" or western ones that pronounce it like "-isch." Modern pronunciation differs in some aspects from Siebs' description and the current state is commonly recorded in the Duden series (volume 4: Das Aussprachewörterbuch – The Pronunciation Dictionary).