VOWELS IN STANDARD AUSTRIAN GERMAN - Acoustics ...

97
Vowels in Standard Austrian German
Figure 4.16: Average spectrum of the vowel /e/ taken from the logatome “pebe”, speaker sp012.
Since F2 is relatively high and F3 is maximally low, these two frequencies can form a
center of gravity. For the unconstricted counterpart in the mid-palatal location /E/, the
degree of constriction is even more widened than for unconstricted /ç/. One can
therefore assume a great acoustic coupling which yields in a high F1 (together with a
high degree of lip aperture) and a substantial lowering of both F2 and F3 (see Figure
4.17).
Figure 4.17: Average spectrum of the vowel /E/ taken from the logatome “pebbe”, speaker
sp012.
The vowel pair /e/ and /E/ is primarily discerned by constriction degree, which is
substantially greater for the unconstricted vowel /E/. Wood (1982) reports approxi-
mately the same degree of lip aperture for both vowels, whereas in Valaczkai (1998),
the degree of lip aperture is greater for the unconstricted vowel /E/. These differences in
the articulatory settings between /e/ and /E/ lead to a higher F1, a lower F2, and a lower