In the most recent descriptions of the ach/ich alternation in Modern Standard German, the distribution of [*] and [x] is seen to follow from two rules, one the assimilation of an underspecified dorsal fricative to a preceding (back) vowel, the other a default rule filling in the feature [-back] (or [+front]) on all remaining dorsal fricatives. Both the assimilation rule and the default rule make the by-now-standard assumption that the feature [back] (or [front]) is dependent on the Dorsal node, and thus that both [*] and [x] are [Dorsal] consonants.

On the basis of certain well-known "substandard" varieties of German spoken in the Central German area, it is argued in this talk that both the directionality of this analysis, with [*] as the default and [x] as the conditioned variant, and the feature geometry outlined above, are inadequate to capture the naturalness of the relationship between the standard and the substandard. Indeed, the regularities found in the substandard are not even describable within such a system.

I suggest an analysis of both speech varieties in which the variant [x] may be seen as the default, and in which the palatal [*], in line with a number of recent analyses of palatals in other languages, is viewed as a complex segment with associations to both the Coronal and Dorsal nodes. Within such a system, I argue, not only are the regularities within each speech variety clearly captured, the relationship between them is also made comprehensible.

Please note [*] above represents a voiceless palatal fricative.