VOWELS IN STANDARD AUSTRIAN GERMAN - Acoustics ...

5.3. Processes vs. Coarticulation
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Vowels in Standard Austrian German
The restrictive view on coarticulation put forward in 5.1 implies that coarticulation is
systematic and does not vary within a speaker. A given sequence of sounds demands
specific adjustments and movements of the articulators involved. If these adjustments
and movements are changed, the output is changed as well. E.g. in a CV sequence,
where C is an alveolar plosive and V is a back, unrounded vowel /A/, the tongue has to
perform a backwards movement to form a constriction in the pharynx; if the tongue is
put forward instead, the output will be a front vowel and not a back one. Therefore,
there are articulatory movements that are fixed and have to be performed.
From this follows that variations in coarticulations are the consequence of a
previously applied process. The output of this process causes different movement
adjustments. This argumentation can be proved by an analysis of identical vowels in
symmetrical consonant contexts. Figure 5.11 shows the spectrogram of the sequence
/divis/ from "Division" (division).
In Figure 5.11, both vowels are in unstressed position. From an articulatory point
of view, tongue lowering (trough) might occur during the labial consonant. As concerns
the fricative /s/, articulatory studies showed that alveolar fricatives are produced with
more tongue grooving and have therefore less contact with the palate (see e.g.
Narayanan et al. 1995, Fuchs et al. 2006). Farnetani & Recasens (1993) could show less
palatal contact for /i/ caused by alveolar fricatives. Both articulatory adjustments result
in a widening of constriction degree and, consequently, in a lowering of F2 and F3.
Such a widening of constriction degree takes place in V2 of the sequence /divis/ (Figure
5.11); although both vowels have phonologically the same quality and although both
vowels are unstressed, F2 and F3 of V2 are substantially lower than F2 and F3 of V1.