The Phonology of German (review)

This paperback reprint of a work originally published in 1996 provides a comprehensive survey of German phonology using lexical phonology. Although the main text has not been changed, a number of errors in the original have been corrected, the reformed spelling of German words has been employed, the word index and bibliography have been expanded and updated, and a brief ‘Postscript 2000’ (314–18) has been added which discusses how some of the problems treated in the book have been analyzed within Optimality Theory. Rather than provide a comprehensive description of the contents of the book, I describe here Wiese’s analyses of what he calls ‘the classical phonological rule[s] of Modern Standard German’ (200), namely umlaut and final devoicing, and then offer a critical evaluation of the book.

Umlaut, a process of vowel fronting, is, as W remarks, ‘the central rule in the Modern Standard German vowel system’ (181), and continues to defy easy description. W treats the problem as a stem alternation and accounts for it by means of a rule which spreads [front], resulting in this feature being associated with the rightmost vowel in a phonological word and yielding alternations like H[u:]n∼H[y:]ner ‘chicken∼chickens’. However, there are a number of cases where umlaut is phonologically possible yet does not occur, for example, r[u]nd∼r[u]nder ‘round∼rounder’. W accounts for this by postulating a floating feature [ + front] as part of the underlying representation of some roots. Forms that lack umlaut do not contain this floating feature. W also addresses the question of whether umlaut is a phonological or morphological rule and ultimately concludes that it is a phonological rule, but suggests that the distinction is not crucial for theoretical frameworks that do not sharply distinguish between the phonological and morphological components of a grammar.

Final devoicing in Modern German is another perennially popular topic among phonologists; the term refers to the alternation exhibited by pairs like Sar[k]∼Sär[ɡ]e ‘coffin∼coffins’. Relevant issues that remain disputed include: What is the actual phonetic feature involved and what is the domain of the rule? W accepts the traditional view that [voice] is involved, mainly because he is not completely convinced by any of the alternative proposals. As to the domain of the rule, it is clearly syllable-related, but the question remains as to whether it applies in syllable codas or to syllable-final segments. W notes that final consonant clusters can be devoiced and concludes that this is because the rule applies to syllable-final segments and is free to apply whenever syllabification has taken place. W formulates the rule itself as delinking [voice]; it works in conjunction with a default mechanism which ‘gives the negative value for any feature not specified otherwise’ (204) to yield the correct results.

In general, this is an outstanding book. In some respects it is not for the beginner (despite the claim made on the back cover that the book can provide ‘an introduction to the sound system of German for the nonspecialist reader’); some background in phonology is certainly necessary as a number of concepts are never explicitly explained. However, it would be excellent supplementary reading material for an intermediate or advanced phonology course and superb primary material for a course in German phonology. Those interested in German phonology are indebted to W for writing the book and to Oxford University Press for reissuing it as an affordable paperback.