Durational consonant categories in Alemannic and Swiss Standard German across tempo and age

Abstract

German-speaking Switzerland classifies as diglossia, meaning that the Swiss German public speak both an Alemannic dialect and a respective variety of Swiss Standard German (SSG). Both varieties have a quantitative contrast in obstruent consonants, resulting in different durational categories. One aim of this study is to investigate these categories, focusing on plosives, in both Alemannic and SSG. Furthermore, articulation rate (AR) and its influence on these categories are examined. 20 speakers of two age groups, i.e. younger and older adults, from the canton of Lucerne (LU) were recorded. They read words containing different vowel consonant combinations (VC combinations) within carrier sentences in two conditions, i.e. normal and fast speech tempo. Results show that older speakers have a slower AR in SSG while they behave similar to younger speakers in Alemannic. Most importantly, this investigation confirms a three-way distinction in consonant durations, namely lenis, fortis, and extrafortis in both Alemannic and SSG. In addition, older speakers produce longer consonant durations in the extrafortis category than younger speakers. Despite these age-related differences, durational consonant categories are stable across both tempo and age.