Consonants

• /m, p/ are bilabial, whereas /f, ʋ/ are labiodental.^[2]
• /n, t, l, s/ are dental [n̪, t̪, l̪, s̪].^[1]
  • /t/ is alveolar [t͇] after /ʃ/.^[3]
• /ŋ, kʰ, k/ are velar, /χ, ʁ/ are uvular, and /j/ is palatal. /χ-ʁ/ do not constitute a voiceless-voiced pair.^[2]
  • The /kʰ–k/ contrast is restricted to the word-initial position. In many cases, it corresponds to the /k–ɡ/ contrast in Standard German.^[4]
  • /ʁ/ occurs only in onsets, and it has a few possible pronunciations, which are in free variation with one another:^[3]
    • Voiced uvular approximant [ʁ̞];^[3]
    • Voiced [ʁ] or voiceless [ʁ̥] lenis uvular fricative;^[3]
    • Voiceless uvular trill [ʀ̥];^[3]
    • Voiceless lenis uvular stop [q].^[3]
• /p, t, k, f, s, ʃ, χ/ may be voiced between sonorants.^[4]
  • Word-final /p, t, k/ are sometimes voiced to [b, d, ɡ].^[5]
  • 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].^[6]
• 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].^[3]
• When another nasal precedes a syllabic nasal, such sequence is realized as a single consonant of variable length.^[3]
• Non-phonemic glottal stop [ʔ] is inserted in two cases:
  • Before word-initial vowels, even the unstressed ones.^[3]
  • Before stressed syllable-initial vowels within words.^[3]

Vowels

• The pharyngealized vowels correspond to the sequences of vowel + /r/ in the standard language.^[8]
• 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/.^[9]
• Unstressed short oral monophthongs may fall together as [ə].^[7]
• /ʊˤː, oˤː, ʌˤː, ɔˤː, aˤː/ are often diphthongal [ʊːɒ̯ˤ, oːɒ̯ˤ, ɪːɒ̯ˤ, ɔːɒ̯ˤ, ɛːɒ̯ˤ] in careful speech. Monophthongal realizations are optionally shortened in certain positions.^[10]
• /oˤ/ corresponds to Standard German [ɐ].^[8]
• 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.^[9]
• Monophthongs are allophonically pharyngealized if a vowel in the following syllable is pharyngealized.^[9]
• 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].^[10]
  • /ɪ/ is close-mid [ɪ̞].^[7]
  • /eː, ɛ, ɛː, oˤ, oˤː, ɔˤː/ are more central than the canonical values of the corresponding IPA symbols: [ëː, ɛ̈, ɛ̈ː, öˤ, öˤː, ɔ̈ˤː].^[10]
  • /ɞ/ is mid [ɞ̝].^[7]
  • /ʌˤː/ is mid near-back [ʌ̝̈ˤː].^[8]
  • /ʌ, ʌː/ are central [ɜ, ɜː].^[7]
  • /aˤː/ is near-open near-front [ä̝ˤː].^[8]

• The starting point of /ɞʏ/ is higher and more front than the canonical value of the corresponding IPA symbol ([ɞ̝˖]).^[8]
• The starting points of /ae/ and /aɵ/ are higher and more central than the canonical value of the corresponding IPA symbol ([ä̝]).^[8]
• The ending points of Chemnitz German diphthongs are close to the canonical values of the corresponding IPA symbols ([ʏ, e, ɵ]).^[8]

Sample

The sample text is a reading of the first sentence of The North Wind and the Sun.^[11]