Abstract

The traditional description of the phonem-graphem-relations in graphematics is not compatible with a phonological theory, in which an underlying vowel schwa is not assumed. If schwa is not a phoneme, it remains unclear, to which level of phonological representation the grapheme is related in words with a schwa-0-alternation. In the present article it is argued that the phonetic representation is the appropriate input for the orthography. A precise description of GPK-rules in words with a schwa-0-alternation is not possible without the assumption of a threefold distinction of vowels in German. In analyses with only one or two vowel series no graphematic condition is related to short tense vowels. The writing of schwa and the vowels alternating with schwa together with the regularities of double consonant writing are not explainable without reference to this vowel group. Therefore the phonetic representation is the base for orthography.