(Literal–Graphemic Module — German)
Script Base
- Script: Latin (A–Z)
- Orthography type: Moderately phonemic, with predictable grapheme–phoneme rules but some irregularities in loanwords.
- Locale:
de(supports Austria, Switzerland, Germany variants)
1) Base Alphabet (26 letters)
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
2) Additional Graphemes / Diacritics
- Ä ä → A + diaeresis
- Ö ö → O + diaeresis
- Ü ü → U + diaeresis
- ẞ ß → sharp s (eszett); uppercase form ẞ officially recognized, also legacy SS in all-caps.
3) Vowels
| Glyph | Latin Chain | Phoneme (IPA) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | a | /a/ ~ /aː/ | length distinguished by context |
| Ä | a + ¨ | /ɛ/ ~ /ɛː/ | |
| E | e | /ɛ/ ~ /eː/ | |
| I | i | /ɪ/ ~ /iː/ | |
| O | o | /ɔ/ ~ /oː/ | |
| Ö | o + ¨ | /œ/ ~ /øː/ | |
| U | u | /ʊ/ ~ /uː/ | |
| Ü | u + ¨ | /ʏ/ ~ /yː/ | |
| Y | y | /y/ or /i/ in loans | |
| Vowel length | doubled vowels (ee), h after vowel, open syllable | feature flag {length: long} |
4) Consonants
| Glyph | Latin Chain | Phoneme (IPA) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| B | b | /b/ → /p/ final devoicing | |
| C | c | /k/ before a, o, u; /t͡s/ in loans from Latin/Greek | |
| CH | c + h | /x/ after a, o, u; /ç/ after e, i, ä, ö, ü | |
| D | d | /d/ → /t/ final devoicing | |
| F | f | /f/ | |
| G | g | /g/ → /k/ final devoicing; /ç/ in -ig endings (northern) | |
| H | h | /h/ or silent length marker | |
| J | j | /j/ | |
| K | k | /k/ | |
| L | l | /l/ | |
| M | m | /m/ | |
| N | n | /n/ | |
| NG | n + g | /ŋ/ | velar nasal |
| P | p | /p/ | |
| Q | q + u | /kv/ | always qu sequence |
| R | r | /ʁ/ uvular fricative (standard); /r/ trill in some dialects; vowel coloring in coda | |
| S | s | /z/ word-initial before vowel; /s/ elsewhere | |
| ß | ß | /s/ long vowel or diphthong preceding | |
| T | t | /t/ | |
| V | v | /f/ in native words; /v/ in loans | |
| W | w | /v/ | |
| X | x | /ks/ | |
| Z | z | /t͡s/ |
5) Digraphs & Trigraphs
- Sch → /ʃ/
- Sp, St → /ʃp/, /ʃt/ word-initial
- Pf → /pf/ (affricate)
- Ph → /f/ (mostly in Greek loans)
- Th → /t/ (loans)
- Eu, Äu → /ɔʏ/ diphthong
- Ei, Ai, Ey, Ay → /aɪ/ diphthong
- Au → /aʊ/ diphthong
6) Orthographic Rules
- Final devoicing: b/d/g → p/t/k in coda
- Capitalization: All nouns capitalized; ẞ uppercases to ẞ (preferred) or SS (legacy)
- Length marking: vowel + h (Bahn), doubled vowels (Meer), or open syllable
- Diphthong spelling: fixed grapheme sequences, phonemic value consistent
7) Locale Casing & Normalization
- Preserve ẞ as distinct grapheme; fold to
ssonly when locale rules demand legacy form. - Diaeresis letters Ä/Ö/Ü are single graphemes, not base+modifier for collation purposes in
de. - NFC/NFD round-trip safe.
8) Engine Feature Flags
{length: long|short}for vowels{voice: voiced|voiceless}auto-updated by final devoicing rules{allophone: [ç|x]}for CH{capitalization: noun}for grammar-aware modules
✅ Mint Status: German Graphemic Module now fully defined and integrated with the Latin Graphemic Module. Ready for export into the lattice.