Vowel quality

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Under vocal quality refers to the quality characteristics of vowels . To describe the quality of the German vowels one needs at least terms for the following qualitative properties: " open " (= deep) - " closed " (= high), "front" (= palatal) - "back" (= velar), “Central” (based on the contrast between “front” and “rear”), “ medium ” (in the middle between “open” and “closed”) and “rounded” - “unrounded”. Vowel quality is the opposite of vowel quantity , which means the contrast between “long” and “short” vowels. (In some languages ​​there are not just two lengths of vowel.)

Examples of the vowel qualities in German

  • “Open” are the “a” sounds in contrast to the “closed” “i”, “ü” and “u” sounds; in between are the "middle" "e", "ö" and "o" sounds; this criterion refers to the mouth opening (as well as the angle of the jaw and also the height of the tongue position);
  • “In front” are the “i” and “ü” sounds in contrast to the “back” “u” sounds; the same applies to the "e" and "ö" sounds in contrast to the "back" "o" sounds; the Schwa (= unstressed short [ə]) is to be defined as the central vowel neither as "in front" nor as "behind"; this criterion relates to whether the tongue is further forward or further back in the mouth;
  • “Rounded” - “unrounded” is the difference between the “unrounded” “i” and “e” sounds and the “rounded” “ü” and “ö” sounds; this criterion relates to whether the lips are rounded for the corresponding sounds or not.

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