Luxembourgish phonology

Phonetically, word-final /b, d, dʒ, ɡ, v, z, ʒ, ʁ/ are realized exactly the same as /p, t, tʃ, k, f, s, ʃ, χ/. In most cases, they are realized the same as the main allophones of /p, t, tʃ, k, f, s, ʃ, χ/ (i.e. voiceless), but when the next word begins with a vowel and is pronounced without a pause, they are realized the same as the main allophones of /b, d, dʒ, ɡ, v, z, ʒ, ʁ/, i.e. voiced and are resyllabified, that is, moved to the onset of the first syllable of the next word (the same happens with /ts/, which becomes [dz], and the non-native affricate /pf/, which is also voiced to [bv]). For instance, sech eens (phonemically /zeχ ˈeːns/) is pronounced [zəˈʑeːns],[6] although this article transcribes it [zəʑ‿ˈeːns] so that it corresponds more closely to the spelling. Similarly, eng interessant Iddi [eŋ intʀæˈsɑnd‿ˈidi] ('an interesting idea').

In Luxembourgish, the letter g has no fewer than nine possible pronunciations, depending both on the origin of a word and the phonetic environment. Natively, it is pronounced [ɡ] initially and [ʁ ~ ʑ] elsewhere, the latter being devoiced to [χ ~ ɕ] at the end of a morpheme. Words from French, English and (in a few cases) German have introduced [ɡ] (devoiced [k]) in other environments, and French orthography's "soft g" indicates [ʒ] (devoiced [ʃ]).

By the now very common mergers of [ʒ] and [ʑ], as well as [ʃ] and [ɕ], this number may be reduced to seven, however. The pronunciation [j] is also (generally) not obligatory but a common alternative to [ʑ] in the environment indicated below.

Native monophthongs of Luxembourgish, from Gilles & Trouvain (2013:70)

The monophthongs of Luxembourgish are as follows:[7]

• /i, iː, u, uː, o/ are close to the corresponding cardinal vowels [i, u, o].[7]
  • Some speakers may realize /o/ as open-mid [ɔ], especially before /ʀ/.[7]
• /e/ has two allophones:
  • Before velars: close-mid [e], which for some speakers may be open-mid [ɛ] – this is especially frequent before /ʀ/.[7]
  • All other positions: mid central vowel with variable rounding, but more often slightly rounded [ə̹] than unrounded [ə̜]. Contrary to Standard German, the sequence of [ə] and a sonorant never results in a syllabic sonorant; however, Standard German spoken in Luxembourg often also lacks syllabic sonorants, so that e.g. tragen is pronounced [ˈtʀaːɡən], rather than [ˈtʀaːɡn̩] or [ˈtʀaːɡŋ̍].[8][9]
• /eː, oː/ are higher than close-mid [e̝ː, o̝ː] and may be even as high as /i, u/.[7]
  • Before /ʀ/, /eː/ is realized as open-mid [ɛː].[7]
• The quality of /æ/ matches the prototypical IPA value of the ⟨æ⟩ symbol ([æ]).[7]
• /ɐ/ appears only in unstressed syllables. Phonetically it is a near-open near-back unrounded vowel [ɐ̠].[7] It is similar to /ɑ/, though it is shorter and somewhat more central. Phonemically, it can be analyzed either as a marginal phoneme or a non-prevocalic sequence of /e/ and /ʀ/.
• /ɑ/ is near-open [ɑ̝].[7]
• /aː/, a phonological back vowel (the long counterpart of /ɑ/), is phonetically near-front [a̠ː]. Sometimes, it may be as front and as high as /æ/ ([æː]), though without losing its length.[10]
• The nasal vowels appear only in loanwords from French, whereas the oral front rounded vowels appear in loans from both French and German.[2]
  • The opposition between close-mid and open-mid vowels does not exist in native Luxembourgish words. In non-native words, there is a marginal contrast between the close-mid /øː/ and the open-mid /œː/.
  • The short /œ/ is generally indistinguishable from the native allophone [ə̹].

Part 1 of native diphthongs of Luxembourgish, from Gilles & Trouvain (2013:71)

Part 2 of native diphthongs of Luxembourgish, from Gilles & Trouvain (2013:71)

• The ending points of the closing diphthongs tend to be fairly close, more like [i, u] than [ɪ, ʊ].[11]
• The starting points of /əɪ̯, əʊ̯/ are typically schwa-like [ə], but the first element of /əɪ̯/ may be more of a centralized front vowel [ë̞].[11]
• The starting points of /æːɪ̯, æːʊ̯/, /ɑɪ̯, ɑʊ̯/ as well as /iə̯/ and /uə̯/ are similar to the corresponding short monophthongs [æ, ɑ, i, u].[11]
  • The first elements of /æːɪ̯, æːʊ̯/ may be phonetically short [æ] in fast speech or in unstressed syllables.[11]
• The centering diphthongs end in the mid central unrounded area [ə].[11]
• /oɪ̯/ appears only in loanwords from Standard German.[2]

The /æːɪ̯ ~ ɑɪ̯/ and /æːʊ̯ ~ ɑʊ̯/ contrasts arose from a former lexical tone contrast: the shorter /ɑɪ̯, ɑʊ̯/ were used in words with Accent 1, whereas the lengthened /æːɪ̯, æːʊ̯/ were used in words with Accent 2 (see Pitch-accent language#Franconian dialects.)[2]

Additional phonetic diphthongs arise after vocalisation of /ʀ/.[11] These are [iːə̯, uːə̯, oːə̯, ɛːə̯], with [iːɐ̯, uːɐ̯, oːɐ̯, ɛːɐ̯] as possible alternatives. However, the sequence /aːʀ/ is realized the same as long /aː/, unless a vowel follows within the same word.

In loanwords from Standard German (such as Bad Dürkheim and Föhr) [yːə̯] and [øːə̯] also occur, again with [yːɐ̯] and [øːɐ̯] as possible alternatives.