On Sun, Dec 1, 2024 at 2:54 PM Otto Stolz via Unicode < [email protected]> wrote:
> In German orthography, double consonants mark the preceding vowel as > being short (if there isn’t just a mere co-incidence in a compound, > e. g. “Mausschwanz” (mouse tail)). As the “a” in “Straße” is long, > you write “ß”; as the “a” in “Gasse” is short, you write “ss”. > Cf. <https://grammis.ids-mannheim.de/rechtschreibung/6173> > and <https://grammis.ids-mannheim.de/rechtschreibung/6180>. > And to clarify the need for the ß: it ensures the pronunciation as /s/ as opposed to /z/ (Straße is pronounced /ʃtʁaːsə/, while *Strase would be pronounced /ʃtʁaːzə/) Walter
