Take the 2-minute tour ×
German Language Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for speakers of German wanting to discuss the finer points of the language and translation. It's 100% free, no registration required.

I understand that Fräulein is lexically accented (stressed) more on the first syllable than the second; wiktionary shows IPA pronunciation as /ˈfʁɔɪ̯laɪ̯n/, /ˈfʁɔlaɪ̯n/, and also wikipedia says "Stress in German usually falls on the first syllable, with the following exceptions: ..."

Anyhow, encountering Das Waldfräulein in a list of works of von Ebner-Eschenbach, it occurred to me that my inclination to accent the first syllable of Waldfräulein rather than the second might be incorrect. Does this word fall into one of the classes of exceptions mentioned in the above wikipedia reference, such as compound adverbs or words with inseparable prefixes? What's the correct placement of accent for Waldfräulein?

share|improve this question
add comment

2 Answers

up vote 5 down vote accepted

Waldfräulein is normally accented more on the first syllable than on the second. It is not an exception described in the wikipedia article you mentioned. Waldfräulein is a compound noun of the two nouns Wald and Fräulein.

Exception: For example:

Ich bin ein Waldfräulein und keine Waldfrau.

In this example, you can accent either the first syllable of the compound words Waldfräulein and Waldfrau (as usual), or you can accent the first syllable of the -fräulein/-frau part (in this case the second syllable of the whole compound word) of both the words Waldfräulein and Waldfrau in order to emphasize acoustically the difference between a Fräulein (young or unmarried woman) and a Frau (adult or married woman).

share|improve this answer
add comment

The emphasis on the first syllable (on Wald) would be correct and standard in this case, although it seems to me that I have heard some people who might put the stress on the second here, but that would be more a regional or dialectic variation (perhaps in some southern regions?). You might also check out a couple of articles from Duden about the accent syllable (Akzentsilbe) for further study.

share|improve this answer
add comment

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.
{"cc_re__cc_re__cc_by_sa_3_0": ["        <li><a href=\"http://area51.stackexchange.com\" title=\"proposing new sites in the Stack Exchange network\">Area 51</a></li>\r\n                        <li><a href=\"http://careers.stackoverflow.com\">Stack Overflow Careers</a></li>\r\n                    \r\n                </ol>\r\n            </td>\r\n    </tr>\r\n</table>\r\n                </div>\r\n            </div>\r\n\r\n            <div id=\"copyright\">\r\n                site design / logo &#169; 2014 stack exchange inc; user contributions licensed under <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/\" rel=\"license\">cc by-sa 3.0</a> \r\n                with <a href=\"http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2009/06/attribution-required/\" rel=\"license\">attribution required</a>\r\n            </div>\r\n            <div id=\"svnrev\">\r\n                rev 2014.4.24.1565\r\n            </div>\r\n            \r\n        </div>\r\n    </div>\r\n    <noscript>\r\n        <div id=\"noscript-warning\">German Language Stack Exchange works best with JavaScript enabled<img src=\"http://pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-c1rF4kxgLUzNc.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"dno\"><"], "copyright__copyright__copyright": ["some people who might put the stress on the second here, but that would be more a regional or dialectic variation (perhaps in some southern regions?). You might also check out a couple of articles from Duden about the accent syllable (Akzentsilbe) for further study.\n\nshare|improve this answer\nadd comment\n\nYour Answer\n\n\u00a0\ndiscard\n\nBy posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.\n\nNot the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question."]}