The Wendish Research Exchange - Jocz, Lechosław: The Phonological and Sound Characteristics of the Vowels of the Schleife Dialect

Lětopis Abstract 2009 2: Jocz, Lechosław: The Phonological and Sound Characteristics of the Vowels of the Schleife Dialect

The vowel system of the Schleife dialect is given a new analysis in this article. It is based on recordings from the archive of the Sorbian Institute, on archival recordings from the Sorbian broadcasting station as well as on the personal recordings of the author, carried out in March 2006. The first part deals with a phonological analysis of the Scheife vowel sounds, in which the starting point is a comparison of the author’s personal observations with the three previously suggested interpretations. On this basis the author postulates a vowel system with eight elements.

The second part presents the results of a phonetical/sound analysis of the Schleife vowels. It records the average values of the first two formants and suggests an interpretation in graph form. In addition, it explains the variation in the articulation of individual sounds from speaker to speaker.