XPost: alt.usage.english   
   From: hr.usenet@email.de   
      
   On Tue, 3 Sep 2024, Bertel Lund Hansen wrote:   
      
   > I don't remember all the examples, but when the people in   
   > de.etc.sprache.deutsch write spoken German, they write "ham" statt   
   > "haben" - eh, in stead of, that is.   
      
   This is a very natural process which took place in many areas in Germany,   
   both in the S and in the E; I am not sure whether in the SW as well.   
      
   Step 1: replace -en by syllabic -n (still same number of syllables):   
      
     haben → habn, leben → lebn, kommen → kommn, schaffen → schaffn,   
     reden → redn, sagen → sagn, packen → packn, hängen → hängn [hɛŋn]   
      
   Step 2: assimilate this -n to become homorganic with the preceding sound:   
      
     habn → habm, lebn → lebm, kommn → kommm [kɔmː], schaffn → schaffm,   
     redn = redn, sagn → sagŋ, packn → packŋ, [hɛŋn] → [hɛŋː]   
      
     The long nasals allow to distinguish standard "kommen/hängen" from   
     standard "komm!/häng!".   
      
   Step 3: merge the two final consonants if the first one is a lax plosive:   
      
     habm → ham, lebm → leːm, redn → reːn, sagn → saːŋ   
      
   This explains "haben/leben" becoming "ham/leːm" which appear in   
   colloquial speech nearly all over Germany.   
      
   Especially Bavarian has another interesting feature: where step 3   
   makes no difference, the final nasal is often changed to [a], in   
   particular, long nasals must be removed.   
      
   Step 4 (Bavarian):   
      
      kommm [kɔmː] → kemma (mand.), packŋ → packa (opt.), [hɛŋː] →   
   henga (mand.)   
      
   Of course, the extent to which these steps apply is very different across   
   Germany. If step 1 is omitted, the language sounds overly distinct, and step   
   2 as well sounds natural in colloquial speech. I would not hesitate to teach   
   foreigners to apply these two steps as normal pronunciation.   
      
   --   
   Helmut Richter   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)