German Linguistics Lectures

11.20 Affricates

• Affricates are made up of two sounds: a fricative and a plosive
• There are two German affricates:
• The voiceless phoneme /ts/ is found in words like zu, Zeit or Tanz.
• This phoneme should not be confused with /z/!
• The voiceless phoneme /pf/ is found in Apfel, Pfanne and Pfund.

11.21 Nasal Consonants

• Nasal consonants are produced when the airstream is expelled via the nasal cavity and not the oral tract.
• All three German nasals are voiced:
• The phoneme /m/ - mein, immer
• The phoneme /n/ - nein, anders
• The hardest nasal to remember is /ŋ/ - Ding, jünger, hängen

11.22 Lateral Consonants

• Lateral consonants are so called because of the position of the tongue.
• The tongue curls up to touch the alveolar ridge, letting the air escape laterally.
• The only German lateral is /l/
• It is formed with the front of the tongue and found in words such as faul, Falle or viel.