Phonotactics of Derivational Affixes in German Dialects: An Analysis of the PhonD2 Corpus

Abstract

This paper deals with the phonotactics of noun derivational affixes in the dialects of German. An analysis of the PhonD2 corpus with phonologically and morphologically annotated spontaneous speech data from 64 dialect speakers is presented. The results show the different frequencies of use of the derivational affixes and their phonotactic cluster. Correlations between form and function can also be demonstrated insofar as certain phonotactic clusters are used in a polyfunctional manner i.e. occur with many different derivational affixes, while other clusters are restricted to individual affix types. Furthermore, the study reveals asymmetries between prefixes and suffixes, for example regarding their phonological word status and sonority sequence. In addition, regional distributions appear for certain phonotactic patterns, such as the syncope of Ge+ and plosive after velar nasal in +ung.

Publication History:
submitted: 11 January 2024
first review: 20 May 2025
second review: 12 August 2025
accepted: 3 September 2025
published: 1 October 2025