Chemnitz dialect
# Chemnitz dialect

Chemnitz dialect is a distinct German dialect of the city of Chemnitz and an urban variety of Vorerzgebirgisch, a variant of Upper Saxon German.

## Phonology

### Consonants

Consonant phonemes :

| | | Labial | Dental | Postalveolar | Dorsal | Glottal |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Nasal | Nasal | m | n | | ŋ | |
| Plosive | fortis | | | | kʰ | |
| Plosive | lenis | p | t | | k | |
| Fricative | Fricative | f | s | ʃ | χ | h |
| Approximant | Approximant | ʋ | | | j | |
| Liquid | Liquid | | l | | ʁ | |

* /m, p/ are bilabial, whereas /f, ʋ/ are labiodental.
* /n, t, l, s/ are dental [n̪, t̪, l̪, s̪].
   * /t/ is alveolar [t͇] after /ʃ/.
* /ŋ, kʰ, k/ are velar, /χ, ʁ/ are uvular, and /j/ is palatal. /χ-ʁ/ do not constitute a voiceless-voiced pair.
   * The /kʰ–k/ contrast is restricted to the word-initial position. In many cases, it corresponds to the /k–ɡ/ contrast in Standard German.
   * /ʁ/ occurs only in onsets, and it has a few possible pronunciations, which are in free variation with one another:
      * Voiced uvular approximant [ʁ̞];
      * Voiced [ʁ] or voiceless [ʁ̥] lenis uvular fricative;
      * Voiceless uvular trill [ʀ̥];
      * Voiceless lenis uvular stop [q].
* /p, t, k, f, s, ʃ, χ/ may be voiced between sonorants.
   * Word-final /p, t, k/ are sometimes voiced to [b, d, ɡ].
   * Word-initially, the /t–k/ contrast is neutralized before /l/, which means that e.g. the word Kleid ('dress') can be pronounced as either [tleːt] or [kleːt].
* When a stop or fricative precedes, the sequences /əm, ən, əŋ, əl/ can be realized as syllabic consonants [m̩, n̩, ŋ̍, l̩]. The nasals appear depending on the place of articulation of the preceding consonant, so that it can be bilabial [m̩], dental [n̩], velar [ŋ̍] or uvular [ɴ̩].
* When another nasal precedes a syllabic nasal, such sequence is realized as a single consonant of variable length.
* Non-phonemic glottal stop [ʔ] is inserted in two cases:
   * Before word-initial vowels, even the unstressed ones.
   * Before stressed syllable-initial vowels within words.

### Vowels

Plain :

| | [-back] | [-back] | [+back] | [+back] |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| | short | long | short | long |
| Close | ɪ | iː | ɵ | ʉː |
| Close-mid | | eː | | ɵː |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɛː | ɞ | |
| Open | | | ʌ | ʌː |

Pharyngealized :

| | Unrounded | Rounded | Rounded |
| - | - | - | - |
| | Unrounded | short | long |
| Close | | | ʊˤː |
| Close-mid | | oˤ | oˤː |
| Open-mid | ʌˤː | | ɔˤː |
| Open | aˤː | | |

Non-native :

| | Short | Long |
| - | - | - |
| Close | ʏ | yː |
| Close-mid | | øː |
| Open-mid | œ | |

* The pharyngealized vowels correspond to the sequences of vowel + /r/ in the standard language.
* The non-native vowels are occasionally used in cognates of some Standard German words, such as brüder [ˈpʁyːtoˤ] ('brothers'). In other cases, they are pronounced the same as /ɪ, iː, ɛ, eː/.
* Unstressed short oral monophthongs may fall together as [ə].
* /ʊˤː, oˤː, ʌˤː, ɔˤː, aˤː/ are often diphthongal [ʊːɒ̯ˤ, oːɒ̯ˤ, ɪːɒ̯ˤ, ɔːɒ̯ˤ, ɛːɒ̯ˤ] in careful speech. Monophthongal realizations are optionally shortened in certain positions.
* /oˤ/ corresponds to Standard German [ɐ].
* Monophthongs are somewhat retracted when they precede dorsals, except /j/. The retraction is strongest before /χ, ʁ/. To a certain extent, this is also true of monophthongs that follow dorsal consonants.
* Monophthongs are allophonically pharyngealized if a vowel in the following syllable is pharyngealized.
* The phonetic quality of the monophthongs is as follows:
   * /iː, ʉː, ɵ, ɵː, ʊˤː/ are close to the canonical values of the corresponding IPA symbols [iː, ʉː, ɵ, ɵː, ʊˤː].
   * /ɪ/ is close-mid [ɪ̞].
   * /eː, ɛ, ɛː, oˤ, oˤː, ɔˤː/ are more central than the canonical values of the corresponding IPA symbols: [ëː, ɛ̈, ɛ̈ː, öˤ, öˤː, ɔ̈ˤː].
   * /ɞ/ is mid [ɞ̝].
   * /ʌˤː/ is mid near-back [ʌ̝̈ˤː].
   * /ʌ, ʌː/ are central [ɜ, ɜː].
   * /aˤː/ is near-open near-front [ä̝ˤː].

Diphthong phonemes :

| | Ending point | Ending point |
| - | - | - |
| | unrounded | rounded |
| Mid | | ɞʏ |
| Open | ae | aɵ |

* The starting point of /ɞʏ/ is higher and more front than the canonical value of the corresponding IPA symbol ([ɞ̝˖]).
* The starting points of /ae/ and /aɵ/ are higher and more central than the canonical value of the corresponding IPA symbol ([ä̝]).
* The ending points of Chemnitz German diphthongs are close to the canonical values of the corresponding IPA symbols ([ʏ, e, ɵ]).

### Sample

The sample text is a reading of the first sentence of The North Wind and the Sun.

**Broad phonetic transcription**

[ˈeːnəs ˈtʌːχəs hʌmʃ toˤ ˈnoˤːtʋɪnt ɵnt tə ˈsɞnə kəˈtsʌŋt | ʋaˤː fɞn ˈpeːtn̩ tɛn nʉː toˤ ˈʃtaˤːkʁə ɪs | ɛls ə ˈʋʌntʁoˤ mɪt nəm ˈʋɔˤːmən ˈmʌntl̩ ʌn | foˤˈpeːkʰʌːm]

**Orthographic version (standard German)**

Eines Tages haben sich der Nordwind und die Sonne gezankt, wer von den beiden denn nun der Stärkere ist, als ein Wanderer mit einem warmen Mantel an, vorbeikam.

