As clearly stated in the introduction of this book, it is an introductory textbook aimed at students of German, specifically at students who are not set out to be linguists. It wants to get across the essentials, the basics of the sound structure of German (p. 7). However, the introduction also mentions that this book is suited for linguists and also for university teachers, as the presentation of the content “weicht…in einigen Punkten von den üblichen Darstellungen ab” [deviates at several points from more usual presentations]. The aim of this book is to show that “die Lautstrukturen des Deutschen einfacher sind, als sie üblicherweise gesehen und dargestellt werden” [the phonological structures of German are simpler as they are usually seen and portrayed]. I show that both of these statements make this book unique and almost revolutionary among modern textbooks.

The introduction (chapter 1) is quite specific in orienting the reader in two respects. First, it explains the relevance of phonology to various professions student readers may be going toward, zooming in especially on future schoolteachers. Second, it delineates clearly and almost meticulously the subject of this book from related areas. For instance, the author makes clear that this book concentrates on Standard German rather than also containing information on the phonology of German dialects. In fact, the list of subjects the book does not cover is quite a bit longer than those that it does cover (p. 8–10 versus p. 10).

The second chapter, Phonetik und Phonologie, is short even by the standards of this short textbook (just 5 pages), and it deals with phonetics and phonology. However, it explains a crucial differentiation that cannot be pointed out clearly enough, and that—from experience—takes a long time to sink in. In particular, it makes explicit that phonetics deals with gradient rather than categorical phenomena. By contrast, categorical perception is in the center of phonology. It is not only its phenomeno-logical core, but it is also necessary to come to grips with the infinite variation that we can observe through our “phonetic perspective”. The chapter closes with a typological observation, namely, that Standard German is one of the few languages without a sandhi system (p. 16).

Chapter 3, Das Lautinventar des Deutschen, is the first substantial chapter, and it gives a first glimpse of the revolutionary perspective of this book. Most of the chapter is traditional in content. It walks the reader through the phoneme inventory of German in a relatively conventional way, explaining how the relevant sounds are produced and classified. However, the last three sections discuss problematic issues. The theoretically most significant of these problematizes the property of tenseness to characterize the so-called vowel opposition, using /ɛ:/ as a key problem. Becker touches here on the core difference between traditional textbooks and this textbook with respect to a fundamental property of German phonology. This is that the vowel opposition in German is traditionally seen as segmentally motivated with tenseness as the primary phonetic correlate. Becker does not go into great detail here yet, but his arguments for why [ɛ:] should be classified as a low rather than a mid vowel can be summarized as follows:

1. (i) there is no phonemic vowel opposition in unstressed syllables, therefore tense short vowels do not exist;

2. (ii) not all vowels that are classified as tense are actually phonetically tense: Most speakers do not make a difference between /a/ and /ɑ/ with respect to tenseness;

3. (iii) traditionally /ɛ:/ is seen as an aberration of the German sound system because it is characterized not only by its quality but also by its quantity, although usually vowel length is seen as a function of word stress.

Becker proposes that, in contrast to traditional representations, /ɛ:/ is better seen as /æ/ and classified as low vowel (p. 38).

Chapter 4, Akustische Phonetik, gives the necessary phonetic background but concentrates—as the title suggests—on acoustic phonetics. It covers the basics and more advanced topics such as the transition locus from a practical perspective, so that students can apply relevant methods to actual data.

The topics of chapter 5, Silbenstruktur und Lautgrammatik des Deutschen, are syllable structure and phonotactics. The first part of the chapter situates the syllable as a basic unit within phonology. It introduces the fundamental terminology to describe syllables and discusses phonological rules that make reference to syllable structure, such as final devoicing in German. One noteworthy fact is that final devoicing is not seen as a processural rule but as a phonotactic constraint. This is characteristic of the book in that it does not emphasize formal descriptions over coherent presentations. The second part of the chapter focuses on generalizations on syllable structure applied to Standard German. It starts with the sonority principle and then discusses a selection of the preference laws for syllable structure postulated in Vennemann Reference Vennemann1988. The preference law the chapter illustrates in most detail in its relevance to German is the Contact Law. Becker uses this law to illustrate syllabification and to define ambisyllabicity. The remainder of the chapter deals with phonetic factors influencing the combinability of sounds, such as the general behavior of coronals and how nasals assimilate to following sounds in German. In addition, the status of affricates in German is discussed: Becker weighs the evidence carefully, concluding that there are no compelling arguments for viewing them as single segments.

Chapter 6, Der deutsche Wortakzent, deals with main word stress in German, as opposed to secondary stress and sentence stress. After listing the phonetic correlates of stress and briefly covering typological aspects, the book zooms in on the stress system of German. This is another topic where this book differs from other textbooks, as it presents the rules and defaults of stress placement in German proposed by Theo Venneman (Reference Vennemann1991 et passim). Consequently, the conclusion about the stress type of Modern Standard German is also different. Becker explicitly says that it can be ruled out that German has initial stress. He also argues that non-native words are not part of a separate stress system (p. 82). Instead, German has free lexical stress with largely analogical, frequency-based tendencies that are best captured in terms of preferences to certain types of placements over others for a given word (p. 83). The final section of this chapter covers morphological rules of stress placement.

In chapter 7, the book addresses one of the most-discussed topics in German phonology, namely, the so-called “vowel opposition”: The crucial question is what the distinctive feature is that differentiates /i/ from /ɪ/, /u/ from /ʊ/, /o/ from /ɔ/, etc. Becker does not tackle this question head on (as, for example, Vennemann Reference Vennemann1991 does); instead, he introduces the concept of syllable cut by saying that it is about the relationship between a vowel and the following consonant. He explains the key aspect of this relationship, which is that short vowels in a stressed open syllable are banned from the phonological system of German. The reason, according to Becker (p. 87), is that stressed syllables require the “Implosionsposition,” a second nuclear position, to be filled by a vowel (as part of a diphthong) or a consonant. Unstressed syllables are not subject to this requirement and consequently do not take part in the vowel opposition.

The vowel opposition in German is thus not segmental but prosodic. In “scharf” (abruptly) cut syllables, the vowel is cut off by the following consonant; phonetically it is centralized. This is in contrast to “sanft” (smoothly) cut syllables, in which the vowel is articulated fully. As a result, the vowel in the abruptly cut syllable cannot be lengthened in hyperarticulation, but the following consonant can, whereas it is the other way around in smoothly cut syllables. Becker's examples are Wasssser ‘water’, illustrating the first type, and Waahn ‘madness’, illustrating the second. Ambisyllabicity follows as a consequence of these constraints. Becker also briefly talks about the historical origin of ambisyllabicity and syllable cut as a consequence of a change traditionally called “open syllable lengthening”. The chapter closes with a table summarizing the phonetic and phonological correlates of the syllable cut prosody in German and a brief section on the German vowel opposition that interprets the lax vowels as centralized counterparts of tense vowels under abrupt cut.

The final chapter of the book, Schrift, deals with the phonological foundations of the German spelling system. This is also meant as an illustration of relevant concepts discussed in the first seven chapters. One example is the so-called syllabic principle (Silbisches Prinzip) of German spelling. It marks abrupt and smooth cut through consonant doubling and <h>, respectively. The book closes with answers to the exercises, the references, lists of tables and illustrations, as well as a subject index.

This book has many features that make it pedagogically very suitable for use in class. First, each chapter gives problems for which the appendix contains solutions. This is key to engage students with the content and to give students who want to go beyond the basics an opportunity to practice on their own. Second, the presentation of the material is straightforward and accessible. This is especially true for theoretical problems, such as the vowel opposition, even though some passages will need revisiting even by talented students. Third, the book is explicit about its alternative perspective on certain areas of German phonology. This is of pivotal significance for a textbook because students may not be aware of an underlying discrepancy between this and other books in how the facts are presented. Becker really succeeds in presenting his point while pointing out at the same time with all honesty that he is at times at odds with much of the phonological community. This strategy gives readers the opportunity and the motivation to engage with the content and to find out for themselves—which is of course one key goal of any textbook. Suggestions for further reading support this engagement. Technically, the book is edited and produced almost flawlessly.

For colleagues who are not yet fully convinced of the alternative view of German phonology that is presented in this book, there is much food for thought. In some cases, the introductory nature of the book prevents a full discussion, and hence statements can come across as a bit stipulative. For example, chapter 7 does not mention the experimental confirmation of the claim that long vowels and the consonant following a short vowel are much more variable in their duration (see Mailhammer, Kruger & Makiyama Reference Mailhammer, William and Alexander2015:214 with references). Thus the description of the phonetic reality of syllable cut may sound somewhat esoteric, especially since there is no phonetic evidence showing that abruptly-cut vowels are in fact “cut-off” (Restle Reference Restle2003:45–46). An alternative is to explain a syllable-cut prosody as a configuration in which syllable structure and segmental properties are interrelated (see, for example, Mailhammer Reference Mailhammer2009 and Mailhammer, Kruger & Makiyama Reference Mailhammer, William and Alexander2015). Similarly, the concept of preference laws, presented in chapter 5, might need more unpacking for uninitiated and skeptical readers. In particular, the fact that these “laws” are theorems, as Vennemann (Reference Vennemann1988) calls them—that is, axiomatically postulated generalizations rather than empirical generalizations—is a key point that helps prevent misunderstandings (see Mailhammer, Restle & Vennemann Reference Mailhammer, William and Alexander2015).

When this book was published, its author held the Chair of German Linguistics at the University of Bamberg. At the time of writing this review, Thomas Becker sadly is no longer with us, having passed away in a tragic accident in 2013. Although he will never get the chance to read it, I hope to have done justice to Thomas' great legacy in phonology and morphology. This book embodies the thinking of a great mind, and I think he has done a formidable job at passing his insights on to future generations.