Versprecher: Dissimilation von Konsonanten

Research on phonetic dissimilation has traditionally focussed on cases of dissimilation attested in language change. By contrast, the present study, referring the concept of dissimilation both to the process of speech production and on its output, examines instances of consonant dissimilation from the speech error corpora compiled by Rudolf Meringer, Bernhard Kettemann, and by the author herself. - After a detailed description of major speech error categories followed by a critical evaluation of statistically weighted sound frequency data as well as a precise assessment of speaker idiosyncrasies recurring in a series of apposite experiments, consonant dissimilations are discussed in terms of speech gestures, tongue twister characteristics, diadochokinesis, and speech tempo. While regressive dissimilation seems to be a function of colliding articulatory intentions, progressive dissimilation apparently originates in collisions of different innervation patterns during the articulatory fore-run of speech sounds. Given the frequent occurrence of both types of collisions in speech production - and given also the relatively small number of articulatory gestures available in human speech - dissimilation processes will inevitably apply and reapply at close intervals of time.