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Abstract:
This paper attempts a new departure both in German dialectology and in phonemic analysis: (i) It is based on an open corpus of spontaneous, colloquial speech. (ii) The segmentals (phonemes and clusters) are integrated into the hierarchy of supra-segmentals (syllable types, shape types, intonation contours). (iii) Phonemic variability is recognized within the dialect. Its major isoglosses are restated in terms of phoneme correlations. (iv) Certain unstressed words do occur in isolation. (v) Vowel length is recognized as redundant, but the difference between the dental /t/ and the alveolar /ţ/ is distinctive. (vi) The inventories of stressed and unstressed vowels differ radically, the unstressed suffixes containing the vowels /i e/ only. (vii) The peripheral status is analyzed of the aspirates (other than /kh/), of the affricates /ţs kchi/, and of the lenis /t s eta/, but none of these phonemes is limited to loanwords. (viii) The fusion is analyzed of adjacent stops in initial k- and ţ-clusters.