Enkele Resultaten Van Een Kontrastief Experimenteel Onderzoek Naar Uitspraakgedrag In De Vreemde Taal Voor Het Nederlands En Het Duits

The point of departure for this investigation were some generally accepted impressionistic statements about durational differences in Dutch and German vowels. An acoustic analysis of utterances spoken by various groups of speakers was carried out. Differences between native speakers and second-language learners were manifest to a varying degree. Long training does not guarantee the best approximation to native performance. Furthermore it is apparent that current ideas about vowel duration in the two languages should be modified: the differences are not so great as generally thought. Phonological factors rather than specific durations are relevant. Unlike Dutch, German vowels are considerably longer before voiced than before voiceless medial consonants.