20 placenames

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Postgraduate Diplomain Translation and Interpreting

ATS 5011

Translation in native language from active/passive foreignlanguage

Dr Sandra Vella

1. Choose twenty place names in any European country.2. Ask a native speaker of the language chosen to read out the

place names.3. Give:(a) the orthographic transcription of the place names chosen;(b) the transcription of the native speakers pronunciation;(c) give general comments.

Kenneth Grima

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Contents

1. Introduction 32. Analyses of Maltese and German consonants

repertoires3

3. Analyses of Maltese and German vowel system 5

4. Analyses of the pronunciation of twenty place names 7

5. Conclusion 23

6. Bibliography 24

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Introduction

Throughout this assignment I shall:

(a) outline basic information regarding the German language phonology;

(b) indicate twenty place names in the Nordrheinwestfalen region in West Germany (the

Lower Rhine Area);

(c) ask a German native speaker to read out the chosen place names;

(d) attempt an International Phonetic Transcription (IPA) of these place names based on

(c);

(e) formulate the closest pronunciation a native speaker of the Maltese language and

alien to the German language can produce. Since most Maltese speakers are also

acquainted with the English writing system, it is very likely that the former are

influenced by both English and Maltese writing systems as far as pronunciation of the

selected place names is concerned.

1. Analyses of Maltese and German consonants repertoires

BilabialLabioDental

AlveolarPost-

alveolarPalatal Velar Uvular Glottal

Plosive

Nasal

Fricative

Affricative

Retroflex

Approximant

Lateral

Table 1: Chart of German & Maltese Consonants Phonemes

Table 1 above depicts Maltese and German consonants (phonetic notations) and shows

across (a) place of articulation and down (b) manner of articulation. Note that:

(a) voiceless consonants are shown on the left whilst voiced consonants appear on the

right;

(b) most consonants in both German and Maltese have the same place and manner of

articulation (refer to table 2);

(c) IPA phonemes shown in bold indicate consonants which form part of the German

language with no direct correspondence in the Maltese language consonant system.

Thus a Maltese speaker alien to the German sound system may encounter difficulties

in pronouncing selected phonemes (refer to table 3);

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(d) Shaded parts indicate phonemes, which are typical to the Maltese language phonetic

repertoire but have no direct phoneme correspondence in the German language.

Table 2: Complete correspondence between Maltese & German consonant sounds

Phonetic symbol German example Remarks

[passe] Like Maltese [pipa]

[Ba] Like Maltese [bieb]

[Tasse] Like Maltese [tazza]

[das] Like Maltese [dak]

[Kasse] Like Maltese [kaxxa]

[Gasse] /gas/ Like Maltese [gass]

[beeiden]

//

Like Maltese [baqra]

[Masse] Like Maltese [massa]

[nasse] Like Maltese [nar]

[Ding] /di

/

Like Maltese [bank]

[fasse] Like Maltese [farka]

[Welt] /vlt/ Like Maltese [vara] but less friction

[reie] Like Maltese [sar] but with a sharper hiss

[Base] /baz/ Like Maltese [\ejt]

[Masche] /ma/ Like Maltese [xatt] but with more lip-protrusion

[Genie] /eni/ Like Maltese [xbin] but with more lip-protrusion

[hasse] Like Maltese [abib]

[ja] /ja/ Like Maltese [jara]

[lallt ] /lalt/ Like Maltese [lira]

Table 3: Non-correspondence between German and Maltese consonants


[rauchen]

//

Not directly equivalent to a Malteseconsonant. It is similar to the Scottish ch in[loch]. Occurs after high & mid back

vowels. // occurs after low back vowels. //

occurs after high & mid back vowels. (a) [rot] /ot/

(b) [Heer] /he/(c) [Wasser]

/vas/

Maltese /r/ is alveolar retroflex. The

German // can be produced in threedifferent ways: (a) rolled or flapped, with theuvula or with the tip of the tongue; (b) mostlyweak uvular fricative after long vowels in finalposition or before consonant; (c) very weak

uvular fricative in // in final position or

before consonant. Also pronouned as //.

[Frauchen] /

f/

Not directly equivalent to a Malteseconsonant. It can be made by unvoicing africative [j]. Likely to occur after front vowels

and consonants within the same morphemeas well as morpheme initially as in theexample given.

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2. Analyses of Maltese and German vowel system

FRONT BACK FRONT BACK

Table 4:

The Cardinal Vowel Diagram of

Maltese Monophthnogs

Table 5:

The Cardinal Vowel Diagram of

German Monophthnogs

(a) Maltese has six orthographic vowels: [a], [e], [i], [ie], [o] and [u] that can be long or

short. The cardinal vowel diagram above (table 4) indicates the auditory values of the

Maltese vowels (11 in all).

(b) German has eight different orthographic vowels, which are [], [a], [e], [i], [o], [], [u],

[]. The cardinal vowel diagram above (table 5) indicates the auditory values of themain German vowels (16 in all). However, there are up to 25 different vowel auditory

values of which eight are nasalised vowels. Table 6 shows the auditory values of

German vowels and their equivalence to Maltese.

(c) Note that:

due to the wide range of the auditory values of the German vowels, a Maltese non-

native speaker of German will definitely encounter difficulties in vocalising certain

vowels. One notices immediately the vast range of vowel auditory values in German

that have no direct correspondence to a Maltese vowel (or to an English vowel);

shaded parts indicate a vowel sound that does not have a direct corresponding sound

in the Maltese vowel system.

in table 6, reference is also made to the German diphthongs:

Table 6: Auditory values of German vowels & diphthongs


[Vieh] /f/ Like Maltese // in [ried]

[binr] /bin/ Not direct correspondence to Maltese.Short, otherwise like //

5

close

half-close

half-open

open

close

half-close

half-open

open


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[mit] /mt/ Like Maltese // in [ridt]

Table 6: Auditory values of German vowels & diphthongs (continues)


[Weh] /v/ Not direct correspondence to Maltese.Long resembles the first sound in English

[ay] e.g. [day] /

/ but somewhat closer [Tenor] /teno/ Not direct correspondence to Maltese or

English. Short, otherwise like /e/

[Zhne] /tsn/ Like Maltese [dehra]

[wenn] /vn/ Like Maltese [belt]

[zahle] /tsal/ Not direct correspondence to Maltese.Short, resemble English [a] in [ago], butcloser than this.

[Dse] /dz/ Not direct correspondence in Maltese.Long resembles French [u] in [muse].

[Physik] /fyzik/ Not direct correspondence to Maltese ([i] +

[u] together) or English. Short, otherwiselike //

[Htte] /ht/ Not direct correspondence to Maltese orEnglish. Short, opener than //

[bse] /b/ Not direct correspondence to Maltese orEnglish. Long, resembles French [eu] in[trieuse]

[dem] /dem/ Not direct correspondence to Maltese orEnglish. Short, otherwise like //

[Hlle] /h/ Not direct correspondence to Maltese orEnglish. Short but opener than //

[gut] /gt/ Like Maltese [mur]

[Musik] /mzik/ Not direct correspondence to Maltese or

English. Short, otherwise like //

[Bulle] /bl/ Like Maltese [surmast] but closer andmore retracted than this

[Ro] // Like Maltese [bott]

[Wallstreet]

/

/

Like Maltese [g o ob].

[Vokativ]

//

Not direct correspondence to Maltese orEnglish. It is a back close-mid vowel sound

between // and //

[Lohn] // Not direct correspondence to Maltese or

English. Longer than //

[Base] /bz/ Not direct correspondence to Maltese.Long resembles English a in [father], butmore advanced than this

[hatte] /ht/ Not direct correspondence to Maltese or


[Teint] /t/ Not direct correspondence to Maltese or

English. Long, nearly nasalized []

[Interieur]

//

Not direct correspondence to Maltese or


[Parfum]

/paf/

Not direct correspondence to Maltese

or English. Long nasalized //

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Table 6: Auditory values of German vowels & diphthongs (continues)


[Lundist] /ldst/ Not direct correspondence to Maltese

or English. Short nasalized //

[Fond] /f/ Not direct correspondence to Maltese

or English. Long nasalized /o/, butopener than this.

[Fondue] /fdy/ Not direct correspondence to Malteseor English. Short, otherwise

like //

[Gourmand] /

gm/

Not direct correspondence to Malteseor English. Long nasalized /a/

[Mont] // Not direct correspondence to Malteseor English. Long nasalized [o]

[Brei] // Slightly different from Maltese

diphthong // as in [tiegi]

[kaum] // Slightly different from Maltesediphthong // as in [tiegu]

[Queiros]

//Like Maltese diphthong // in[tiegi]

[Leute] // Like Maltese [oj]

3. Analyses of the pronunciation of twenty place names

In the following section, I will:

(a) give the orthographic writing of the German place name chosen;(b) attempt to give the transcription of such place names according to the pronunciation

by Dr. Hans Helmut Frei Ph.D. (refer to tape enclosed);

(c) Give the closest pronunciation a Maltese non-native speaker of German can give to

the original German pronunciation. Remarks will then follow.

Place name no.1

Orthographic writing of

place names

International Phonetic

Alphabet (IPA)Transcription (attempt):

Closest Maltese

pronunciation in IPATranscription

Korschenbroich

Remarks

1. Orthographic level:

(a)no [c] in Maltese. The closest to it is [`];

(b) no [ch] in Maltese but available in English;

(c) no four consonants standing next to each other in Maltese or English like in the above

example [rsch];

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(d) in Maltese two vowels standing next to each other is rare and limited to [oe]: [poeta];

[ea]: [Ewropea]; [eo]: [teoloija]; [ao]: [kaos]. This is common in English e.g.: [neutral];

(e) [nbr] is rare and limited in Maltese e.g.: [inbramt], [inbraxt].

2. Pronunciation level:

(a)no //, // and // in Maltese. Closest phonemes: // and /h/ respectively, the latter

less harsh;

(b)a Maltese speaker is likely to associate [ch] to Maltese [`] followed by a mute [h]

eventhough final [h] in Maltese is pronounced as /h/. However, a Maltese speaker

who is familiar with the English writing system will probably be influenced by such

knowledge whereby [ch] following a vowel is pronounced as // as in [such],

[pouch]. May I just point out that both pronunciations will be wrong since in this word,

[ch] is pronounced as // or /x/ (similar to Scottish [ch] in [loch] /l/);

(c ) no schwa // in Maltese (common in English but still very difficult for a Maltese non-

native speaker of English to produce such a vowel sound). Closest pronunciation: //;

(d) [h] in Maltese has no sound except at the end of a word were it is pronounced as /h/;

(e) [nb] like [nbid] is pronounced as // in Maltese (assimilation of [n]);

(f ) no // in Maltese vowel system. Closest pronunciation: //;

(g) therefore, a Maltese speaker influenced by both the Maltese and English orthographic

systems, is likely to pronounce this place name as // or

//.

3. Closest Maltese pronunciation of //

is //.

Place name no.2

Orthographic writing of

place names

International Phonetic

Alphabet (IPA)Transcription (attempt):

Closest Maltese

pronunciation in IPATranscription

Neureth

Remarks


(a) no [eu] in Maltese but common in English (refer to place name no.1, 1d);

(b) no word in Maltese ends with [th]. This is common in English e.g.: [truth], [south]. The

closest letter in Maltese is [t].


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(a) [h] in Maltese has no sound except at the end of a word where it is pronounced as /h/;

(b)a Maltese speaker familiar to the English orthographic and phonetic system, is likely to

read [th] as // in /p/ [path] even though this sound may be somewhat difficult

for a Maltese non-native speaker of English. Hence, the closest sound a Maltese may

produce is that of /

/ as in [

art];(c ) since [eu] is non-existent in the Maltese writing system, a Maltese familiar to the

English writing system is likely to pronounce this combination of vowels as /ju/

or // as in [neutral] (//), [neural] (//) respectively.

[eu] is pronounced in German as //, a diphthong common also in the Maltese

diphthongs system as in [oj] in the example [oj hemm xi trid!];

(d)no // in Maltese. Closest phoneme: // ;

(e) the second vowel [e] (pronounced as //) in the word, is likely to be read and

pronounced by a Maltese as //;

(f ) no /a/ in Maltese vowel auditory value. Closest pronunciation is //;


systems, is likely to pronounce this place name as //.

3. Closest Maltese pronunciation of // is //.

Place name no.3

Orthographic writing ofplace names

International PhoneticAlphabet (IPA)

Transcription (attempt):

Closest Maltesepronunciation in IPA

Transcription

Hrth

Remarks


(a) no word in Maltese ends with [th] (refer to place name no.2, 1b);

(b) [] is non existent in Maltese or in English. The closest letter in Maltese and English is

[u];


(a) the letter [h] in Maltese is a mute [h] (refer to place name 2, 2d).

(b) [th] pronounced as // or // although the latter is extremely difficult for Maltese non

native speakers of English (refer to place name 2, 2a);

(c) // is a non-existing vowel sound neither in Maltese nor in English. It is a front

closed [u] sound. The closest sound a Maltese can achieve is // as in [surmast];

(d)no // in Maltese. Closest phoneme: // ;

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(e) therefore, a Maltese speaker influenced by both the Maltese and English orthographic

systems, is likely to pronounce this place name as // or //.


Place name no.4





Transcription

Castrop-Rauxel k

k

Remarks


(a) 3 consonants next to each other [str] is very common in Maltese e.g.: [stramb],

[stra]na ...;

(b) no [c] in Maltese. The closest to it is [`] (refer to place name 1, 1a). Common in

English;

(c) no [au] in Maltese (refer to place name no.1, 1d);


(a) since the orthographic symbol [c] does not exist in the Maltese orthographic system,

but does exist in the English writing system as pointed above, it is likely that [c] is

either pronounced as /k/ (as in English [cast] (/k/);) or as [t] (as in Maltese

[ass] //);

(b) in the Maltese orthographic system, [x] is pronounced as []. In German, this

orthographic symbol is pronounced the same as it is in the English word

[approximate]. Hence, a Maltese speaker is likely to pronounce [x] either as //

(Maltese writing system) or as /ks/ (English writing system);

(c ) no // in Maltese. Closest phoneme: //;

(d) // is pronounced as // as in the Maltese word [tieg]u] /t/;

(e) final [l] very slightly pronounced;

(f ) no /a/ in Maltese. Pronounced as // (refer to place name no.2, 2g);

(g)no schwa // in Maltese. Pronounced as // (refer to place name no.1, 2c)

(h) therefore, a Maltese speaker influenced by both the Maltese and English orthographic


// or even //

or //.

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3. Closest Maltese pronunciation of /k/

is /k/.

Place name no.5





Transcription

Aachen

Remarks


(a) no [c] or [ch] in Maltese (refer to place name no.1, 1a & 1d);

(b) no [aa] in Maltese or English (refer to place name no.1, 1c). Double vowel clusters in

Maltese are common only to words such as [ikkoordina], [ikkoopera], therefore [oo]. In

English double same vowel are also limited (e.g.: [feel], [need], [goose]).


(a) although [aa] is non-existent in Maltese orthographic system, the speaker is likely to

acknowledge the need to lengthen the vowel [a] (like what happens in Maltese words

where the vowel [a] follows the historical phoneme [g]] e.g.: [g]amel] //).

Dr Frei told me that double same vowel standing next to each other is very rare in the

German orthographic system except for proper nouns);

(b) [h] in Maltese has no sound except at the end of a word were it is pronounced as /h/

(refer to place name no.1, 2d);

(c) [ch] is either pronounced as / or as // (refer to place name no.1, 2b);

(d)no // in Maltese. Closest pronunciation is /h/, therefore a glottal sound rather than

an uvular sound;

(e) final /n/ slightly pronounced (in the Maltese language sound system, we tend to well

pronounce final consonants);

(f ) no schwa // in Maltese (refer to place name no.1, 2c);

(h) German /a/ is longer than // in Maltese or // in English words;

(i) therefore a Maltese speaker influenced by both the Maltese and English orthographic



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Place name no.6





Transcription

Stetternich

or

Remarks


(a) no [ch] in Maltese but common in English (refer to place name no.1, 2b);


(b) [er] seems to be pronounced either as // or as // (this happens when [r] is either

preceeding a consonant or is final). Maltese orthographic system, unlike that ofEnglish ([father], [bar], [pair]) or of German (in this case), is such that nearly each

sound is represented by one individual grapheme, and all sounding in the word are

fully pronounced;

(c) in Maltese orthographic system, a long consonant is well pronounced e.g.: [bott]

(//) whereas in English and in German, a double consonant does not

automatically imply a long consonant e.g. [butter] (//) and [hatte]

(//) respectively. Hence, a Maltese speaker is likely to pronounce the

long /t/;

(d) because of what I have pointed out in (a), a Maltese speaker will pronounce [st] as /s/

and /t/ respectively whereas in German, this combination of phonemes is pronounced

as // such as in [xtara];

(e) [h] in Maltese has no sound except at the end of a word were it is pronounced as /h/


(f) [ch] is either pronounced as / or as // (refer to place name no.1, 2b);

(g) /

/ does not exist in the Maltese sound system. The closest to it is /

/;(h) in Maltese the orthographic symbol [e] is pronounced as // like it is in German.

However, in this place name, the second [e] is pronounced as // in German, which is

just slightly opener than // in Maltese. However, the tendency is for the Maltese to

pronounce it as [e] due to its orthography;

(i) the German pronunciation of // is closer than it is pronounced in Maltese words such

as [ridt] (/rt:/);

(j) therefore, a Maltese speaker influenced by both the Maltese and English orthographic


as //.

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is //.

Place name no.7





Transcription

Rdingen

Remarks


(a) [] is non existent in Maltese or in English (refer to place name no.3, 1b);

(b) [ng] is not a difficult consonant cluster for a Maltese speaker to pronounce as seen in

the following words: [ingwent], [ingravata], [ingwanti], [Ingli\].


(a) Maltese /r/ is alveolar-retroflex whereas German // is uvular-fricative;

(b) a Maltese speaker aware of the Maltese orthography system is likely to pronounce the

[e] in the final syllable as //. In this German place name, the final [e] is a schwa //

which in Maltese in non-existent (refer to place name no.1, 2c);

(c) since the Maltese writing system is nearly completely phonetic, (refer to place name

no.6, 2a), a Maltese speaker will not leave out the [g] after the [n] as it is done in the

pronunciation of place name no.7;

(d) // pronounced as // (refer to place name no. 3, 2b);




Place name no.8





Transcription

Mnchen-Gladback

Remarks


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(a) no [] (//) in Maltese or English. Hence, this vowel is likely to be replaced by [o];

(b) no [c] in Maltese (refer to place name no.1, 1a);

(c) in Maltese [ch] as in [Mnchen] and [ck] as in [Gladback] are non-existent (refer to

place name no.1, 1b). However, a Maltese speaker of English is very likely to

associate the grapheme [ch] with [ch] in the English word [cherry] and the consonantal

cluster [ck] to the English words [back], [truck], [lock];

(d) the cluster [db] is found in the Maltese e.g.: [dbabar], [dbiba], [dbieben];

(e) [gl] is a common cluster in Maltese e.g.: [glorja]; [iglu]; [gloj];


(a) [ch] is either pronounced as/ or as // (refer to place name no.1, 2b);

(b) [h] in Maltese has no sound except at the end of a word were it is pronounced as /h/


(c) [ck] is likely to be pronounced as // if the speaker were to apply the Maltese

orthographic system. On the other hand, if the speaker is familiar with the English

writing system, he is likely to pronounce it as // as in [black], [truck];

(d) no // in Maltese. Closest pronunciation is /h/ (refer to place name no.5, 2c);

(e) since // is non-existent in Maltese (neither it is in English) the closest pronunciation

will be that of // which in reality, is less open than the German pronunciation //;

(f) a Maltese speaker aware of the Maltese orthography system is likely to pronounce the

[e] in the final syllable of [Mnchen] as //. In this German place name, this [e] is a

schwa // which in Maltese in non-existent (refer to place name no.1, 2c);

(g) no /a/ in Maltese; pronounced as // (refer to place name no.2, 2g);

(h) therefore, a Maltese speaker influenced by both the Maltese and English orthographic

systems, is likely to pronounce this place name

as /tk/ or/tk/.


is //.

Place name no.9





Transcription

Moers

Remarks


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(a) no [oe] in Maltese writing system (refer to place name no.1, 1c);

(b) [rs] is a common consonant cluster in Maltese e.g.: [ors], [ ]ars]. It is also available in

English spelling system e.g.: [bars], [tours].


(a) in German, [oe] is pronounced the same as //, hence long. It is a non-existent

vowel sound in Maltese or in English. The closest would be / / which is slightly

closer;

(b) Maltese /r/ is alveolar-retroflex whereas German // is uvular-fricative;

(c) Therefore, a Maltese speaker influenced by both the Maltese and English orthographic



Place name no.10





Transcription

Huchem-Stammeln

Remarks


(a) no [ch] in Maltese but common in English writing system (refer to place name no.1,

1b);

(b) [st] and [ln] as two separate consonant clusters and double [m] are not a problem for a

Maltese speaker since they are all to be found in the Maltese orthographic system:

[storja], [stqarr], [ilna], [kilna] and [sammar], [xammem] respectively;


(a) [h] in Maltese has no sound except at the end of a word were it is pronounced as /h/


(b) [ch] is either pronounced as / or as // (refer to place name no.1, 2b);

(c) in Maltese orthographic system, [mm] indicates a long consonant: /m/, which is not

the case in the pronunciation of this German place name (refer to place name 6, 2b);

(d) [st] pronounced as /s/ and /t/ respectiveley (refer to place name no.6, 2c);

(e) problem with both [e]s. In this word, both [e]s are shwas therefore pronounced

as //. Schwa // is non-existent in Maltese though it is common in English but still

very difficult for a Maltese non-native speaker of English to produce such vowel sound.

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Closest pronunciation in Maltese is // (refer to place name no.1, 2c) but a Maltese

speaker will associate the orthographic symbol [e] with the sound in Maltese //;

(f) German /a/ is longer than // in Maltese or // in English words;

(g) Therefore, a Maltese speaker influenced by both the Maltese and English orthographic


as // or as

// or as/


is //.

Place name no.11





Transcription

Weyer or

Remarks


(a) no [y] in Maltese orthographic system but very common in the English writing systeme.g.: [youth], [year], [bay], [flay], [layout], [layer], [saying].


(a) in Maltese orthographic system, [w] is a semivowel pronounced as /w/ (bilabial

approximant). In the German writing system, [w] is pronounced as /v/;

(b) final [r] pronounced as // or as // (refer to place name no.6, 2a);

(c) a Maltese speaker is likely to pronounce the first [e] as // since Maltese orthography

is phonetic type and hence, nearly each and every phoneme in the Maltese writingsystem is represented by one particular grapheme (refer to place name no.6, 2a);

(d) German /a/ is longer than // in Maltese or // in English words;

(e) Therefore, a Maltese speaker influenced by both the Maltese and English orthographic



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Place name no.12





Transcription

Niederkrchten

Remarks


(a) [ie] is not a problem in the Maltese orthographic system. All Maltese speakers are

fully aware of the long pronunciation of such vowel as in words such as [bierek],

[riedet], [mietet] as opposed to short [i] as in [ridt], [biss];

(b) no [ch] in Maltese orthographic system (refer to place name no.1, 2b);

(c) [rk] is a common cluster of consonants in Maltese orthography e.g.: [rkejjen], [barkiet],

[tarka], [farka], [Tork];

(d) [] is non existent in Maltese or in English. The closest letter in the Maltese writing

system is [u] (refer to place name no.3, 1b).


(a) [h] in Maltese has no sound except at the end of a word were it is pronounced as /h/(refer to place name no.1, 2d);

(b) [r] preceding a consonant pronounced as // or as // (refer to place name no.6,

2a);

(c) no // in Maltese sounding system. /r/ is the normal pronunciation of [r];

(d) [ch] is either pronounced as / or as // (refer to place name no.1, 2b);

(e) a Maltese speaker aware of the Maltese orthography system is likely to pronounce the


which in Maltese in non-existent (refer to place name no.1, 2c);

(f) therefore, a Maltese speaker influenced by both the Maltese and English orthographic


as // or as //.


is //.

Place name no.13

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Transcription

Neuss

Remarks

1. Orthographic level:(a) no problem in Maltese with final double consonant e.g.: []ass], [`ass], [rass];

(b) no [eu] in Maltese but available in English (refer to place name no.1, 1d).


(a) since [eu] is non-existent in the Maltese writing system, a Maltese familiar to the

English writing system is likely to pronounce this combination of vowels as /ju/

or // as in [neutral] (//), [neural] (//) respectively.

[eu] is pronounced in German as //, a diphthong common also in the Maltese

diphthongs system (refer to place name no.2, 2c);

(b) Maltese lengthens double consonants e.g.: []ass] (//), [`ass] (//),

[rass] (//). This, however, is not the case in the pronunciation of the above

German place name (refer to place name no.6, 2b);

(c) Therefore, a Maltese speaker influenced by both the Maltese and English orthographic

systems, is likely to pronounce this place name as // or//.

3. Closest Maltese pronunciation of // is //. This is the only

example in the whole list where a Maltese pronunciation is fully equivalent to the

original German pronunciation.

Place name no.14





Transcription

Gressenich

Remarks


(a) [gr] is a common consonant cluster in Maltese writing system e.g.: [Grieg], [gravi],

[grawnd];

(b) [ss] is commonly found in Maltese words (refer to place name no.13, 2b);

(c) no [ch] in Maltese orthographic system (refer to place name no.1, 2b).


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(b) no // in Maltese sounding system. /r/ is the normal pronunciation of [r];

(c) // does not exist in the Maltese sound system. The closest to it is //;

(d) [ch] is either pronounced as

/ or as /

/ (refer to place name no.1, 2b);(e) Maltese lengthens double consonants e.g.: []ass] (//), [`ass] (//);

(f) Therefore, a Maltese speaker influenced by both the Maltese and English orthographic


//.


Place name no.15





Transcription

Garzweiler

or

Remarks


(a) [rz] is a common consonant in Maltese e.g.: [arzella], [arzell], [parzjali];

(b) [rzw] seems to be unavailable in Maltese;

(c) no [ei] in Maltese writing system (refer to place name no.1, 1d).


(a) no // in Maltese sounding system. /r/ is the normal pronunciation of [r] in Maltese;

(b) [w] is pronounced as /w/ in Maltese, whereas in German is pronounced as /v/;

(c) final [r] pronounced as // or as // (refer to place name no.6, 2a);

(d) a Maltese speaker aware of the Maltese orthography system is likely to pronounce the


which in Maltese is non-existent. Although very common in English, it is still very

difficult for a Maltese non-native speaker of English to produce such vowel sound

perfectly. In this example, the closest pronunciation possible by a Maltese is //

not // as in the previous examples;

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(e) the German [a] is lower than the Maltese counterpart. Hence, the nearest possible

pronunciation by a Maltese for /a/ is //;

(f) [ei] is a diphthong in German pronounced as // which is also common in Maltese

but with a slightly different pronunciation for /a/ as for example [tieg]i] /t/;




is // or //.

Place name no.16





Transcription

Jlich

Remarks


(a) no [ch] in Maltese but common in English (refer to place name no.1, 1b);

(b) [] is non existent in Maltese or in English. The closest letter is [u] (refer to place

name no.3, 1b).




(b) [], pronounced as // in this example, therefore similar to Maltese [jum], [jurta]

(refer to place name no.3, 2b);

(c) [ch] is either pronounced as / or as // (refer to place name no.1, 2b);

(d) // does not exist in the Maltese sound system. The closest to it is //;


systems, is likely to pronounce this place name as //

or //.


Place name no.17




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Transcription(as in dictionary):

Transcription

Kln

21


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Remarks


(a) no [] (//) in Maltese. Hence, this vowel is likely to be replaced by [o];

(b) the cluster [ln] is common in Maltese e.g.: []allna], [tbag]lna], [kilna], [kollna].


(a) since [] (//) in Maltese is likely to be replaced by [o] (//), which deviates from the

German pronunciation, the likelihood is for a Maltese speaker to pronounce such

place name as //.


Place name no.18





Transcription

Dursburg

Remarks


(a) No problems at this level.


(a) no // in Maltese sounding system. /r/ is the normal pronunciation of [r] in Maltese;

(b) Maltese people will devioice the final /g/ in /k/ as in the following examples:

[plagg] //;

(c) no // in Maltese sounding system. The closest would be //;

(d) therefore, a Maltese speaker influenced by both the Maltese and English orthographic



Place name no.19





Transcription

Steinstra

22


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Remarks


(a) no [ei] in Maltese (refer to place name no.1, 1d);

(b)no [] in Maltese. It stands for [ss], which is common in Maltese (refer to place name

no.13, 2b).


(a) [st] pronounced as // whereas in German it is pronounced as // (refer to place

name no.6, 2a & c);

(b) [ss] pronounced as // such as [massa], [ass], [rass];

(c) the German [a] is lower than the Maltese counterpart. Hence the nearest possible

pronunciation by a Maltese for /a/ is //;

(d) [ei] is a diphthong in German pronounced as // which is also common in Maltese

but with a slightly different pronunciation for /a/ as for example [tieg]i] (/t/);




is //.

Place name no.20





Transcription

Schnecken - -

Remarks


(a) no [ch] and [c] in Maltese writing system but common in English (refer to place name

no.1, 2a & b);

(b) no [] (//) in Maltese vocalic repertoire orthographic symbol. Hence, this vowel is

likely to be replaced by [o] (refer to place name no.17, 1a).




(b) [ch] is either pronounced as / or as // (refer to place name no.1, 2b);

(c) [ck] is likely to be pronounced as // or as // (refer to place name no.8, 2c);

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(d) a Maltese speaker aware of the Maltese orthography system is likely to pronounce the


which in Maltese is non-existent. Although very common in English, it is still very

difficult for a Maltese non-native speaker of English to produce such vowel sound

perfectly. In this example, the closest pronunciation possible by a Maltese is //;

(e) since no [] (//) occurs in Maltese orthographic system, it is likely to be replaced by

[o] and therefore pronounced as // as in //;

(f) therefore, a Maltese speaker influenced by both the Maltese and English orthographic

systems, is likely to pronounce this place name // or

// or//.

3. Closest Maltese pronunciation of /-/ is /-/.

4. Conclusion

Throughout this study, I have tried to describe possible pronunciation errors Maltese

speakers may make when referring to the selected place names, and to provide the

closest pronunciation a Maltese speaker may achieve to the original German

pronunciation. Moreover, such an exercise has helped me to acquire a better

understanding of orthographic difficulties and the relationship of spelling to the spoken

language. Furthermore, this has enabled me to become acquainted with a foreign accent.

5. Bibliography

Aquilina, J. (1988). The Structure of Maltese: A Study in Mixed Grammar and Vocabulary.Malta: Malta University Press.

Betteridge, H. T. (1995). Cassells German-English; English-German Dictionary.

London: Cassell & Co. Ltd.

Borg, A. & Alexander-Azzopardi, M. (1997). Maltese. London: Routledge.

Cattford, J.C. (1990). A practical introduction to Phonetics. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Springer, O. (1974). Langenscheidts Encyclopaedic Dictionary of the English & Germanlanguages. Part 2: German-English 2ndvol. L-Z. Berlin: Langenscheidt.

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20 placenames