German pronunciation & accents

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This book applies Natural Phonetics & Tonetics principles to German pronunciation and intonation, offering a precise description not found in previous works. It introduces the Natural Phonotonetics Method, applicable to any language, overcoming the limitations of the official IPA. The text thoroughly describes and transcribes German vowels, consonants, structures, and intonation, featuring numerous examples from words, sentences, and conversations. It includes an intonationally integrated IPA sample passage, “The North Wind and the Sun,” along with a poem. A dedicated chapter lists over 300 reduced forms (or ‘weak forms’) with various examples. The book categorizes German pronunciation into five types for Germany: international, neutral, traditional, mediatic, and North-east, while also extensively covering neutral, mediatic, and broad pronunciations in Austria, Switzerland, and South Tyrol. Three chapters detail 34 regional accents across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, as well as those in Liechtenstein, Alsace, Lorraine, Luxembourg, and Eastern Wallonia. Additional chapters explore over 10 traditional dialects, 17 foreign accents of German, and 6 diachronic stages. A mini-phono-dictionary contains more than 2200 challenging words and proper names for learners.