Phonotactic information in the temporal organization of Standard Austrian German and the Viennese dialect

Abstract

The current contribution analyses quantifying prosodic aspects in two Middle Bavarian varieties, Standard Austrian German and the Viennese dialect. State of the art phonological accounts of the Middle Bavarian dialects assume a mutual interaction between vowel and consonant length: long vowels are followed by lenis consonants, short vowels are followed by fortis consonants, further vowel+consonant sequences are proscribed in the Middle Bavarian dialects. In this analysis, this assumption was tested by incorporating the allegedly disallowed sequences long vowel+fortis consonant. Results show that this sequence is not integrated into the presumed Middle Bavarian temporal patterns, but have to be dealt with separately. These results shed a new light on the Middle Bavarian quantity relationships which are discussed within two possible theoretical frameworks, one assuming a two-way opposition in consonants, the other a three-way opposition. Generally, the necessary integration of a third category brings about a revision of the Middle Bavarian quantity relations which is more easily reconcilable with the complex phonotactic structures observable in the Middle Bavarian varieties than the previously assumed pattern of a mutual interaction between vowel and consonant length.