VOWELS IN STANDARD AUSTRIAN GERMAN - Acoustics ...

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Vowels in Standard Austrian German
assumption that F0 correlates with tongue height can not be corroborated by the data of
Standard Austrian German.
It is nevertheless of interest whether F0 plays any role in distinguishing the
vowels of Standard Austrian German. If any correlation with the traditional parameter
tongue height exists, then the respective unconstricted vowel should expose a lower F0.
Such a distinction is only realized by speaker sp012 for some vowel pairs in the task of
reading logatomes. Speaker sp180 does not vary F0 according to constriction degree
(see Table 4.36).
Logatomes i – ç y – Y e – E ë – ê u – ï o – O
Sp012 134–132 134-135 120–115 123–119 138–132 123–116
Sp180 206–216 212–225 172–177 184–180 227–229 182–178
Table 4.36: Mean F0 values of all vowels of the task of reading logatomes. Vowels are grouped
in pairs, within each pair, the value to the left represents the [+constricted] vowel,
the value to the right the [–constricted] vowel. Statistically significant differences
within each pair (p < 0.05) are marked in bold.
In the task of reading sentences, hardly any statistically significant differences with
respect to constriction degree occur in stressed positions (see Table 4.37).
Sentences i – ç y – Y e – E ë – ê u – ï o – O
Sp012 128–126 151-125 109–111 126–117 140–132 112–106
Sp180 206–218 230–224 173–171 223–200 251–262 179–194
Sp082 226–222 233–229 197–190 213–199 233–218 192–185
Sp129 186–191 196–198 144–151 176–168 197–182 148–157
Sp126 129–127 136–138 113–118 124–123 137–120 113–119
Sp127 165–169 184–173 133–140 157–152 182–160 138–155
Table 4.37: Mean F0 values of all vowels in stressed positions in the sentence reading task.
Vowels are grouped in pairs. Within each pair, the value to the left represents the
[+constricted] vowel and the value to the right the [–constricted] vowel/.
Statistically significant differences within each pair (p < 0.05) are marked in bold.
Where the t-value is negative, the pair is additionally in italics.