A Phonetic Study og German (2)

독어음의 음성학적 고찰(2) - 현대독어의 복모음에 관하여 -

Those who are interested in the German diphthongs wil1 find that they are classified into three kinds of forms in accordance with their gliding directions: closing, centring and rising. The German [aI], for example, which derives its origin from [i:] of the riddle high German. Is regarded as a distinctive feature that distinguishes the new high German from the middle high German. The diphthong [aI] is cal led fall ing one, because the sonority of the sound undergoes a diminution as the articulation proceeds. The end part of the diphthong [aI] is less sonorous than the beginning part. In most of the German diphthongs the diminution of prominence is caused by the fact that the end part is inherently less sonorous than the beginning. This applies to the other c los Ing and centring diphthongs. This way of diminution of sonority exerts influence on methods of constructing systems of phonetic notation. The above mentioned less sonorous end part of diphthong [I] shows that it differs from some analogous sound in another context. It is useful to demonstrate the occurrence of particular allophones by introducing special symbols to denote them (here: at→ae). Forms of transcription embodying extra symbol s are cal led narrow. But since strict adherence to the principle 'one sound one symbol' would involve the introduction of a large number of symbols, this would render phonetic transcriptions cumbrous and difficult to read. A broad style of transcription provides 'one symbol for each phoneme' of the language that is transcribed. Phonemic transcriptions are simple and unambiguous to everyone who knows the principles governing the use of allophones in the language transcribed. Among those German ways of transcriptions of diphthongs ( a?, a?, ??: ae, ao, ?ø; ae, ao, ?ø) the phonemic (broad) transcription is general Iy to be recommended, for Instance, in teaching the pronunciation of a foreign language, since it combines accuracy with the greatest measure of simplicity (Some passages and terms from Daniel Jones) .