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Inner-German lenition refers to the weakening of fortis stops and fricatives to their equivalent lenis stops and fricatives (/p, t, k, s, f/ > /b, d, g, z, v/), often with the loss of aspiration. It is first attested around around 1300 near Vienna in the Bavarian dialect group before spreading to other dialects.[1][2][a] It is referred to as "inner-German" because it is not found in dialects in the north of Central German, nor in southern Upper German dialects.[4] All Central German dialects except for Northern Thuringian, Middle Franconian, and Silesian are affected. Affected Upper German dialects include Swabian, East Franconian, and Central and Northern Bavarian. The Bavarian realization of the lenition differs from that found in the other dialects.[5][6] Between the Upper German dialects with lenition and those without is a thin belt of dialects that only weaken consonants in initial position.[6]

In the non-Bavarian dialects, the change applies to all instances of /p t k/ in all positions, causing them to lose aspiration and merge with /b d g/. In East Franconian, for instance, pass and Bass, Tier and dir, and Karten and Garten are all pronounced with the lenis stops. The shift also affects affricates such as /st, sp, ts/ and /pf/, which become /ʃd, ʃb, ds/ and /bf/. Final /sp/ and /mp/ may not be weakened.[7][8][9]

In the Bavarian dialects in initial position, the same change happens and also includes affricates /pf ts kx/ gnobf (standard Knopf). However, /k/ retains its aspiration and is thus distinct for /g/: Lower Austrian gʰuːɐ (standard German Kuh). Word-internally and finally, Central and Northern Bavarian do not weaken /p, t, k, s, f/ before fricatives and stops, thus retaining combinations such as /st, sp, pf, ks, ft, cht, ts/ and /mp/. Additionally, these dialects shorten vowels before geminates, which remain fortis, while lengthening vowels whenever /p, t, k/ were not geminated while also weakening them. All sounds, including /st, pf, cht, ts/, are voiced finally except for /ks/ and /mp/.[10][11] The result is that lenis consonants always appear after short vowels and fortis consonants always appear after long vowels. Due to apocope, morphological variations can be shown via a change in consonant and vowel length: tiːʒ̊ (table) vs. tiʃː (tables).[12]

Notes

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  1. ^ Many dialects that experienced inner-German lenition also spirantized the lenis stops /b, d, g/ word-internally, thus maintaining a distinction. See Development of Proto-Germanic /β ð ɣ/.[3]

References

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  1. ^ Salmons 2018, p. 204.
  2. ^ Paul, Wiehl & Grosse 1998, p. 130.
  3. ^ Paul, Wiehl & Grosse 1998, p. 132.
  4. ^ Salmons 2018, pp. 261–262.
  5. ^ Simmler 1983, p. 1222.
  6. ^ a b König 1994, p. 148.
  7. ^ Salmons 2018, p. 262.
  8. ^ Simmler 1983, p. 1122.
  9. ^ Paul, Wiehl & Grosse 1998, pp. 131.
  10. ^ Paul, Wiehl & Grosse 1998, pp. 131–132.
  11. ^ König 1994, p. 149.
  12. ^ Salmons 2018, pp. 262–263.

Works cited

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  • Goblirsch, Kurt Gustav (2018). Gemination, Lenition, and Vowel Lengthening: On the History of Quantity in Germanic. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781139540780.
  • König, Werner (1994). dtv-Atlas zur deutschen Sprache (10 ed.). Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag.
  • Paul, Hermann; Wiehl, Peter; Grosse, Siegfried (1998). Mittelhochdeutsche Grammatik (24 ed.). Niemeyer.
  • Salmons, Joseph (2018). A History of German: What the Past Reveals about Today's Language (2 ed.). Oxford University Press.
  • Simmler, Franz (1983). "Konsonantenschwächung in den deutschen Dialekten". In Besch, Werner (ed.). Dialektologie: Ein Handbuch zur deutschen und allgemeinen Dialektforschung. Berlin, New York: De Gruyter. pp. 1121–1130. doi:10.1515/9783110203332-005.