Proto-Germanic/Pronunciation

Welcome to the pronunciation lesson of Proto-Germanic!

Consonants

		Bilabial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
						Plain	Labial
Nasal		m ⟨m⟩		n ⟨n⟩
Stop	Unvoiced	p ⟨p⟩	t ⟨t⟩			k ⟨k⟩	kʷ ⟨kw⟩
	Voiced	b ⟨b⟩	d ⟨d⟩			ɡ ⟨g⟩	ɡʷ ⟨gw⟩
Fricative	Unvoiced	ɸ ⟨f⟩	θ ⟨þ⟩	s ⟨s⟩		x ⟨h⟩	xʷ ⟨hw⟩
	Voiced			z ⟨z⟩
Approximants					j ⟨j⟩		w ⟨w⟩
Lateral				l ⟨l⟩
Trill				r ⟨r⟩

• In some positions, voiced stops /b/, /d/, and /ɡ/ are pronounced as [β], [ð], and [ɣ] instead:
  • in intervocalic positions;
  • in word-initial positions in the case of /ɡ/ [ɣ]; and
  • sometimes after /r/ in the case of /d/ [ð], varying with its stop allophone.
• /n/ before velar stops /k/ and /ɡ/ (both of which can be labialized) is pronounced as /ŋ/.

Vowels

Oral vowels Type Front Back short long overlong short long overlong Close i ⟨i⟩ iː ⟨ī⟩ u ⟨u⟩ uː ⟨ū⟩ Mid e ⟨e⟩ eː ⟨ē²⟩ eːː ~ æːː ⟨ê⟩ oː ⟨ō⟩ oːː ⟨ô⟩ Open æː ⟨ē¹⟩ ɑ ⟨a⟩ ɑː ⟨ā⟩

Nasal vowels Type Front Back short long short long Close ĩ ⟨į⟩ ĩː ⟨į̄⟩ ũ ⟨ų⟩ ũː ⟨ų̄⟩ Mid õː ⟨ǭ⟩ Open ɑ̃ ⟨ą⟩ ɑ̃ː ⟨ą̄⟩