VOWELS IN STANDARD AUSTRIAN GERMAN - Acoustics ...

11
Vowels in Standard Austrian German
acquainted with the demands of a given interactional situation, acts, independent of
whether a given sequence is “difficult” to pronounce or not, according to the demands
of the interactional situation and according to the processes available in his or her
language 16 .
It has been argued, in line with Natural Phonology, that the speech chain is
planned. This plan contains all the fully specified information about the phonemic string
plus the adaptations required for a successful interation 17 . The adaptations performed
are the postlexical processes which give the phoneme the ultimate shape. As soon as
language acquisition is completed, the processes not suppressed for a given language or
language variety start to become a habit. Due to this habit, speakers are not aware of
many of the processes they apply or suppress. It is therefore argued, also in Natural
Phonology, that some processes apply in a fairly or even fully automized way.
However, to apply processes automatically would imply that the speakers have no
control over their plans and the execution of their plans. Having no or little control over
one’s plans and the execution of one’s plans would never result in fluent speech 18 .
Therefore, processes are habituated, and it is rather difficult to get rid of one’s habits.
To apply and suppress different processes from the ones acquired in first language
acquisition is trained – with speaker-specific success – in second language acquisition.
A similar situation arises when speakers try to use a different variety from the one
learned (e.g. dialect and standard). Speakers also become aware of their processes when
speech production is hampered (e.g. by a bite-block) or when a sudden error occurs (see
6.4.).
Therefore, under normal conditions, the wish to convey a thought verbally, its
planning, and the execution of the plan is intended by the speaker. The intention
16 For example, sequencing vs. blending of articulatory gestures defined as conflicting.
17 Van der Merwe (1997) distinguishes the linguistic-symbolic planning, including phonological
planning, motor planning, and motor programming.
18 As is the case with persons suffering from speech motor disorders, persons consuming
drugs, or simply, persons whose attention is lowered (tiredness).