Diphthongs and the Process of Monophthongization in Austrian German: a First Approach

Both Standard Austrian German and the Austrian dialects are affected by an ongoing change which turns the diphthongs /D(/ and /$2/ into the monophthongs /(:/ and /2:/ respectively. However, this process shows different assimilation patterns according to the two main dialect regions in Austria: In the South Bavarian dialect region, the offset of the diphthong is assimilated towards the onset, whereas in the Middle Bavarian dialect region, the onset is assimilated towards the offset. The present study provides a detailed description of the diphthongs in both reading and spontaneous speech material. In order to give an answer to the question concerning the two different assimilation patterns, historical speech material of the late fifties has been analyzed additionally.