Chain shifts revisited

In this contribution, two consecutive sound changes, the Viennese monophthongisation and the E-merger, are investigated. Both sound changes originated in the city dialect of Vienna and spread to other Austrian dialects, including the city dialect of Salzburg. Whereas in the city dialect of Vienna the monophthongisation was completed around 1940 leading to two new vowels in the vowel inventory, this process is still in progress in Salzburg. Consequently, the vowel inventories of the two dialects differ with respect to the number of vowels. Traditionally, it has been assumed that the Viennese monophthongisation caused the confusion and subsequent merger of the E-vowels. However, a comparison of the two city dialects reveals that the two changes must have occurred independently of each other.