VOWELS IN STANDARD AUSTRIAN GERMAN - Acoustics ...
VOWELS IN STANDARD AUSTRIAN GERMAN - Acoustics ...
VOWELS IN STANDARD AUSTRIAN GERMAN - Acoustics ...
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83<br />
Vowels in Standard Austrian German<br />
As concerns the back vowels, the constriction locations spotted in Wood (1982),<br />
i.e. the soft palate for the “u-vowels”, the upper pharynx for the “o-vowels”, and the<br />
lower pharynx for the “a-vowels”, have been confirmed by Fant (2001).<br />
For Standard Austrian German, the parameter “constriction location” allocates the<br />
individual constricted/unconstricted pairs a specific location 72 . The following<br />
constriction locations are assumed:<br />
• pre-palatal for the /i, ç, y, Y/ – vowels<br />
• mid-palatal for the /e, E, ë, ê/ – vowels<br />
• soft-palatal for the /u, ï/ – vowels<br />
• upper pharyngeal for the /o, O/ – vowels and<br />
• lower pharyngeal for the /A, a/ – vowels<br />
In the light of this analysis, it is of no relevance whether constriction degree is bigger or<br />
smaller for /e/ with respect to /ç/ or /i/ 73 . Constriction degree is not a gradual movement<br />
from narrow to wide, but exposes distinctive adjustments. Pouplier et al. (2004) found<br />
tongue-palate distance differences > 1 mm for two subjects (out of three) for the pair /i/<br />
– /e/, and for only one subject for the pair /ç/ – /e/. Therefore, in German, /e/ is not to be<br />
discerned by tongue height from the /i/ – vowels, but by constriction location. The same<br />
holds for the /o/ – vowels vs. the /u/ – vowels. According to the results presented in<br />
Pouplier et al. (2004), tongue-palate distance is not bigger for /o/ than for the /u/ –<br />
vowels. The assumption that /e/ and /o/ are “mid” vowels is, therefore, not justified for<br />
Standard Austrian German.<br />
For acoustic reasons, tongue-palate distance is bigger for the front rounded vowels<br />
than for their unrounded cognates (Wood 1986, Pouplier et al. 2004, also Chapter 4.4).<br />
This leads to four different tongue-palate distances in the two front regions respectively.<br />
The vowel /ê/, however, can be modelled both as a back and as a front vowel (Boë et<br />
al. 1992). For this vowel, “the vocal tract most resembles a cylindrical tube” (Boë et al.<br />
1992: 35) and “the area functions reveal two approximately equal and symmetric<br />
72<br />
This analysis holds only for languages which discern a pre-palatal and a mid-palatal<br />
location.<br />
73<br />
See also Hu (2003) for a discussion on tongue height.