Solska T. Modification Processes of German Orthoepic Norm in Germany, Austria and Switzerland: An Experimental Phonetic Study.

This thesis focuses on the study of the allophonic variability range of vowel and consonant phonemes and establishes a hierarchy of their constant / variable distinctive features specific for prepared speech of German, Austrian and Swiss native speakers of the German language. The research reveals common and distinct modification processes of vowel and consonant phonemes in prepared speech of Germans, Austrians and the Swiss. Prevailing articulatory, temporal and spectral parameters of vowels and consonants, as well as main acoustic correlates of their modifications in the three German national varieties have been singled out. The degree of stability/variability peculiar for distinctive features of phonemes in each of these three variants of the German language has been ascertained.