Luxembourgish phonology

This article aims to describe the phonology and phonetics of central Luxembourgish, which is regarded as the emerging standard. The consonant inventory of Luxembourgish is quite similar to that of Standard German. /m, p, b/ are bilabial, /pf/ is bilabial-labiodental, whereas /f, v/ are labiodental. /pf/ occurs only in loanwords from Standard German. Just as among many native German-speakers, it tends to be simplified to [f] word-initially. For example, Pflicht ('obligation') is pronounced [fliɕt], or in careful speech [pfliɕt]. /v/ is realized as w when it occurs after /k, ts, ʃ/, e.g. zwee [tsweː] ('two'). /p, t, k/ are voiceless fortis [p, t, k]. They are aspirated [ph, th, kh] in most positions, but not when /s/ or /ʃ/ precedes in the same syllable, or when another plosive or affricate follows. The fortis affricates are unaspirated and thus contrast with the lenis ones by voicing alone. If followed by a vowel, the fortis stops are moved to the onset of the following syllable and voiced to [b, d, ɡ]; see below. /b, d, ɡ/ are unaspirated lenis, more often voiceless [p, t, k] than voiced [b, d, ɡ]. The lenis affricates are truly voiced. /dz/ as a phoneme appears only in a few words, such as spadséieren /ʃpɑˈdzəɪeren/ ('to go for a walk'). /dʒ/ as a phoneme occurs only in loanwords from English. Note that phonetic [dz] and [dʒ] occur due to voicing of word-final /ts/ and /tʃ/; see below. /s/ and /z/ only contrast between vowels. /s/ does not occur word-initially except in French and English loanwords. In the oldest loans from French it is often replaced with /ts/. /ŋ, k, ɡ/ are velar, /j/ is palatal whereas /r/ is uvular. /j/ is frequently realized as ʒ, e.g. Juni [ˈjuːniː] or [ˈʒuːniː] ('June'). The normal realization of /r/ is more often a trill ʀ than a fricative ʁ. The fricative variant is used after short vowels before consonants. If the consonant is voiceless, the fricative is also voiceless, i.e. χ. Older speakers use the consonantal variant [ʀ ~ ʁ] also in the word-final position, where younger speakers tend to vocalize the /r/ to ɐ, as in German and Danish.