VOWELS IN STANDARD AUSTRIAN GERMAN - Acoustics ...

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Vowels in Standard Austrian German
F2 L L Rs Rs Rus Rus. Ss Ss Sus Sus
Sp012 1701 1482 1669 1560 1464* 1616* 1567* 1648* – –
Sp180 1896 1811 1949 1932 – 2013* 1877* – – –
Sp082 – – 1651 1628 – – 1627* – – –
Sp129 – – 1749 1669 – 1868* 1562* 1633* 1724* 1801*
Sp126 – – 1506 1478 1456* – – 1368* – –
Sp127 – – 1508 1550 1488* 1450* 1552* – – –
Table 4.25: Mean F2 values of /ë/ and /ê/ over all speaking tasks. Within each task, the value
to the left represents the vowel /ë/, the value to the right the vowel /ê/. Statistically
significant differences within each pair (p < 0.05) are marked in bold. Where the tvalue
is negative, the pair is additionally in italics. The asterisk indicates that no ttests
have been performed. Legend as in Table 4.12.
F3 L L Rs Rs Rus Rus. Ss Ss Sus Sus
Sp012 2021 2043 2010 2067 2054* 2119* 2038* 2012* – –
Sp180 2549 2563 2765 2714 – 2970* 2577* – – –
Sp082 – – 2313 2354 – – 2372* – – –
Sp129 – – 2433 2463 – 2354* 2442* 2442* 2636* 2362*
Sp126 – – 2052 2140 2041* – – 2012* – –
Sp127 – – 2131 2244 2283* 2140* 2224* – – –
Table 4.26: Mean F3 values of /ë/ and /ê/ over all speaking tasks. Within each task, the value
to the left represents the vowel /ë/, the value to the right the vowel /ê/. Statistically
significant differences within each pair (p < 0.05) are marked in bold. Where the tvalue
is positive, the pair is additionally in italics. The asterisk indicates that no ttests
have been performed. Legend as in Table 4.12.
All six speakers discern /ë/ and /ê/ by F1. In other words, the degree of lip opening
plays a decisive role in the discriminability of the vowel pair. As expected, F2 is only
discerned by one speaker in stressed positions in the sentence reading task, whereas F3
is still discerned by four speakers, rendering, as expected, a higher value for the
unconstricted vowel /ê/. Since there are no data available for spontaneous speech, it
cannot be evaluated whether these oppositions are maintained over all speaking tasks
and prosodic positions, or whether a tendency towards neutralization, due to the only
moderate lip protrusion and the – probably moderate – accompanying larynx lowering
for the constricted vowel, is on the way.