Many British broadcasters have picked up the
knowledge that in German s
is
often pronounced sh,
and,
proudly demonstrating their expertise, they pronounce Bundestag
as Bundeshtag.
This is wrong: s
is not always pronounced sh.
Its pronunciation depends on
its position in the lexical unit.
Initial s
followed by a consonant is pronounced sh
as in sturm
<shturm> = storm
or in stehen
<shtay-’n>
= stand and in its past
participle gestanden
<ge-shtand’n> = stood.
Initially and medially followed by a
vowel s
is pronounced z,
as in singen
<zing’n> = to sing,
or Besen
<bayz’n> = broom.
In final position, whether followed by a
final
consonant or not, s
is
pronounced s,
as in das
<dass> = the (neuter nominative
& accusative of the definite article)
or best
= best, (including declined
forms like
besten, bester).
Many German words are compounds, made up
of more
than one lexical unit, as is Bundestag.
The lexical units here are Bund
<bunt> = union or federation
here in the genitive case
with a possessive s
<Bundes>
plus Tag
<tac>, with
devoicing of
the final stop = Diet
(in the
sense of daily meeting) The correct pronunciation is therefore <bundes-tac>.
If you still doubt this advice compare Bundestag
with other words relating
to the German constitution:
Bundeskanzler
<bundes-kantsler>
Bundespräsident <bundes-president>
Bundesrat
<bundesraht> [the upper house]
Bundesrepublik
<bundes-raypublík>
This should make it quite clear that the
initial
lexical unit in all cases is Bundes
with a final voiceless s.
While there is a German word Stag
it means stay
or guy-rope,
which is scarcely
relevant to the parliamentary context.
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