VOWELS IN STANDARD AUSTRIAN GERMAN - Acoustics ...

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Vowels in Standard Austrian German
Figure 6.13 and the following figures read as follows. The results of each speaker are
presented in a separate column. The main columns are further subdivided, where the
leftmost crossbar stands for the relative position of a given formant of primary stressed
vowels, the middle crossbar for the relative position of a given formant of secondary
stressed vowels, and the rightmost crossbar for the relative position of a given formant
of unstressed vowels. The row for each formant is again further subdivided, the highest
crossbar denoting a higher formant frequency position relative to the middle and the
lowest crossbars, and the lowest crossbar a lower formant frequency position relative to
the middle and higher crossbars. The figure gives information about stress-dependent
direction of change, but no information about absolute formant frequency values.
Figure 6.13 demonstrates that for the vowel /A/, F1 plays a dominant role in the
indication of stress: all speakers, except speaker sp126, expose the highest F1 values in
primary stressed vowels and the lowest F1 values in unstressed positions. F1 values of
secondary stressed vowels are in between. The results are not as straightforward for F2
and F3. Moreover, speakers deal differently with the way stress is expressed. The
speakers sp180, sp129, and sp127 do not differentiate secondary stressed /A/ from
unstressed /A/. Speaker sp012 does not differentiate primary stressed from secondary
stressed /A/. The speakers sp082 and sp126 differentiate all three stresses with means of
F2 and F3. It can be concluded from these data that secondary stress is expressed by all
speakers, predominantly by means of changing F1 (i.e. adjusting the degree of lip
opening).
In spontaneous speech, three speakers (sp127, sp129, and sp180) do not
differentiate primary stressed /A/ from secondary stressed /A/, whilst the others
differentiate primary from secondary stress, either by F1 (speakers sp012 and sp127) or
F3 (speaker 082). Unstressed /A/ is differentiated by all speakers. Although three
speakers still indicate secondary stress, it has to be noted that the discriminatory
strength is decreased insofar as only one formant is used for discrimination.