234 The Loom of Language
winch deal with pronunciation and spelling of Dutch and Scandinavian
dialects
The few exceptions to the rule that one sound has the same German
symbol are
(a) the /- sound is represented botia by F and V, e g fullcn (fill) and
vott (lull);
(&) the 7- sound of file is repiescnted by El, e g mem (my) or AI, e g
MAI (May);
(c) the 01- sound of boy is represented by BU or AU, c g tcuer (dear),
Hauler (houses),
(d) the fc- sound in bee is represented by IE or IH, e g Licbe (love),
Ihr (your),
(e) the use of a silent H or a double vowel symbol to give A, E, O the
long values of Ahrs Eh^ Ohf, e g Jahr (year)—Aal (eel), mehr
(more)—Meer (sea), bohrcn (bore)—Boot (boat).
A simple rule decides whether the vowels A, E, I, O are long or short
when the long value is not indicated as under (d) and (e) above. Before
two or moie consonants they have the shon values ol our words pat-pet-
pit-pot, e g halt (cold), tetfa (six), u>t (is), ojfen (open) Otherwise with
one exception A, E, O, have the ah/3 ehf> oh! values of Ja (yes), dcm (the),
wo (where) The exception is that a final -E (01 the -E m -EN) is slurred
like the ~ER in worker
The German U has two values, the short one befoie a double con-
sonant is like u m pull, e g. Luft (air), the long one like GO in pool) e g,
gut (good), Thiec German vowel symbols (A, 0, t)) with long and ihort
values in accordance with the same rule have special marks, and they do
not exactly correspond to any of our own sounds The short A3 c g, in
Lange (length) is like the short e in pen. The long A, e g. in sdgcn (saw) is
somewhat nearer to the long e mfSte The 0 and U are pronounced with
rounded hps, loxag 0, e g m schon (beautitul) rather hke u in/wr, short 0,
e g, konnte (could), rather hke or in work. The long tJ, e g, ubcr (over) is
like the u in Scots guid. To get the short tX e.g fun/ (five), make the
i m pin with lounded lips
The pronunciation of German consonants is straightforward. The only
silent symbol is H after a vowel. The English contracted syllable repre-
sented by the initial KN of know (-- Scots £e«), knife, kmt9 etc,, does not
exist in other Teutonic dialects. The (Jerman KN-, e g, in Knabe (boy)
is pronounced as in darkness The symbols F, H, K, M, N> F, T* X have
their characteristic English values. In radio or stage pronunciation the
voiced consonants fc, d, g, shilt towards their voiceless equivalents £, t}
k when at the end of a word, e g the G of des Tage$ (the day's) is as m
goat3 but of der Tag as in coat. The stage German R is trilled like the
Scots'* The mam differences between German and English consonant
conventions are,
(i) CH after a back vowel (A, O, UX e,g in Nacht (mght) is hard as