scholarly journals Shared Vowels in English Loanwords in Arabic: Variation in Similarity-Based Adaptation

2022 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Vowel Sound ◽  
Vowel Quality ◽  
Vowel Length ◽  
Arabic Speakers ◽  
Vowel Systems ◽  
Saudi Arabic ◽  
Vowel Height

This paper investigates vowel adaptation in English-based loanwords by a group of Saudi Arabic speakers, concentrating exclusively on shared vowels between the two languages. It examines 5 long vowels shared by the two vowel systems in terms of vowel quality and vowel duration in loanword productions by 22 participants and checks them against the properties of the same vowels in native words. To this end, the study performs an acoustic analysis of 660 tokens (loan and native vowel sounds) through Praat to measure the first two formants (F1: vowel height and F2: vowel advancement) of each vowel sound at two temporal points of time (T1: the vowel onset and T2: the peak of the vowel) as well as a durational analysis to examine vowel length. It reports that measurements of the first two formants of vowels in native words appear to be stable during the two temporal points while values of the same vowel sounds occurring in loanwords are fluctuating from T1 to T2 and that durational differences exist between loanword vowels in comparison with vowels of native words in such a way that vowels in native words are longer in duration than the same vowels appearing in loanwords.

scholarly journals Effects of Surprisal and Entropy on Vowel Duration in Japanese

2017 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason A. Shaw ◽  
Shigeto Kawahara
Keyword(s):  
Shannon Entropy ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Vowel Quality ◽  
Vowel Length ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Short Vowels ◽  
Word Duration ◽  
Communicative Efficiency ◽  
Linguistic Units ◽  
Positive Effect

Research on English and other languages has shown that syllables and words that contain more information tend to be produced with longer duration. This research is evolving into a general thesis that speakers articulate linguistic units with more information more robustly. While this hypothesis seems plausible from the perspective of communicative efficiency, previous support for it has come mainly from English and some other Indo-European languages. Moreover, most previous studies focus on global effects, such as the interaction of word duration and sentential/semantic predictability. The current study is focused at the level of phonotactics, exploring the effects of local predictability on vowel duration in Japanese, using the Corpus of Spontaneous Japanese. To examine gradient consonant-vowel phonotactics within a consonant–vowel-mora, consonant-conditioned Surprisal and Shannon Entropy were calculated, and their effects on vowel duration were examined, together with other linguistic factors that are known from previous research to affect vowel duration. Results show significant effects of both Surprisal and Entropy, as well as notable interactions with vowel length and vowel quality. The effect of Entropy is stronger on peripheral vowels than on central vowels. Surprisal has a stronger positive effect on short vowels than on long vowels. We interpret the main patterns and the interactions by conceptualizing Surprisal as an index of motor fluency and Entropy as an index of competition in vowel selection.

scholarly journals The Influence of Guttural Consonants /χ/, /ħ/, and /h/ on Vowel /a/ in Saudi Arabic

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 115
Author(s):  
Haroon N. Alsager
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Unified Model ◽  
The Other ◽  
Analysis Method ◽  
Formant Frequency ◽  
Natural Class ◽  
Arabic Speakers ◽  
Second Formant ◽  
Saudi Arabic

This paper presents a comparative study which investigates the influence of Saudi Arabic guttural consonants /χ/, /ħ/ and /h/ on the vowel /a/ when they are adjacent and in the same syllable. Cohn (2007, 2009), Flemming (2001), and Keating (1996) discuss a unified model in which phonology and phonetics are treated as two distinct elements of one domain where each element has an effect on the other to some degree. McCarthy (1991, 1994), Rose (1996), Zawaydeh (1999, 2004), and BinMuqbil (2006) presented phonological studies on gutturals, as well as discussions on gutturals as a natural class, which uphold the phonological aspect of Cohn’s (2009) unified model. The aim of this study is to address the phonetic aspect of Cohn’s (2009) unified model by analyzing the phonetic effects of guttural-vowel coarticulation. An acoustic analysis method was used as a framework for this investigation to extract first formant frequency (F1) and second formant frequency (F2) to measure the influence in the coarticulation. For the purpose of this study, seven native Saudi Arabic speakers were recorded pronouncing 70 Saudi Arabic words. The results showed that guttural consonants have an influence on the vowel /a/ by lowering and backing it when they are adjacent and in the same syllable, while the vowel /a/ in the nonguttural consonants is raising and fronting their adjacent vowel /a/ in the same syllable in comparison with the vowel /a/ in the guttural environment.

scholarly journals Ternary vowel length in Shilluk

Phonology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-125
Author(s):  
Bert Remijsen ◽  
Otto Gwado Ayoker ◽  
Signe Jørgensen
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
The Other ◽  
Supporting Evidence ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Vowel Quality ◽  
Vowel Length ◽  
Mean Values ◽  
Acoustic Study ◽  
The Mean

Ternary or three-level vowel length is typologically rare, and supporting evidence is limited. This paper presents the results of an investigation into the hypothesised case of this configuration in Shilluk. We first describe the role of vowel length in Shilluk phonology and morphology, and then report on an acoustic study in which minimal sets for vowel length (short, long, overlong) are measured for vowel duration, coda duration, vowel quality and fundamental frequency. Short, long and overlong vowels differ significantly and substantially in terms of vowel duration: 96% of the items can be classified successfully for vowel length on the basis of this measurement alone. Of the other measurements, only vowel quality is significant, and this effect is considerably smaller. The mean values for vowel duration – 68, 111 and 150 ms for short, long and overlong vowels respectively – are similar to those reported for ternary vowel length in Dinka.

Opacity in Šmartno Slovenian

Phonology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-301
Author(s):  
Peter Jurgec
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Critically Endangered ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Vowel Length ◽  
Vowel Deletion ◽  
Compensatory Lengthening ◽  
High Vowels

Šmartno is a critically endangered dialect of Slovenian that exhibits three interacting processes: final devoicing, unstressed high vowel deletion and vowel–glide coalescence. Their interaction is opaque: final obstruents devoice, unless they become final due to vowel deletion; high vowels delete, but not when created by coalescence. These patterns constitute a synchronic chain shift that leads to two emergent contrasts: final obstruent voicing and vowel length (due to compensatory lengthening). The paper examines all nominal paradigms, and complements them with an acoustic analysis of vowel duration and obstruent voicing. This work presents one of the most thoroughly documented instances of counterfeeding opacity on environment.

Acoustic properties of vowels in Upper Necaxa Totonac

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Michelle García-Vega ◽  
Benjamin V. Tucker
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Acoustic Properties ◽  
Vowel Quality ◽  
Vowel Length ◽  
Acoustic Characteristics ◽  
Acoustic Data ◽  
Formant Frequencies ◽  
Second Formant

Upper Necaxa Totonac is a Totonacan language spoken in the Necaxa River valley in the Sierra Norte of Puebla State, Mexico. While the Totonacan languages historically have three phonemic vowel qualities, the Upper Necaxa system consists of five vowels that contrast length and laryngealization. With acoustic data from six native speakers from the Totonacan communities of Patla and Chicontla, we explore the phonetic properties of vowels with respect to the first and second formant frequencies, quantity (duration), vowel phonation (modal vs. laryngeal), and stress. The data indicate that long, short, modal and laryngeal vowels occupy a similar formant space and that duration is the primary phonetic correlate of phonemic vowel length. A shift in vowel quality and an increase in duration and pitch were shown to be the acoustic characteristics of stress. The study provides a first acoustic analysis of vowels in Upper Necaxa, and contributes to typological descriptions of the properties of vowels connected with quality, quantity, stress, and phonation.

An acoustic study of Kabardian vowels

1991 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
John D. Choi
Keyword(s):  
Vowel Quality ◽  
Vowel Length ◽  
Perceptual Salience ◽  
Acoustic Study ◽  
Vowel Space ◽  
Phonetic Categories ◽  
Vowel Height

The results of a spectrographic study of the Kabardian vowel system confirm reports in the literature that phonetic vowel quality in Kabardian is determined by the preceding consonant. The data further show that there are three distinct phonetic categories along the F1 axis in the vowel space, and that the contextually determined variation in vowel coloring generally respects this division. Durationally, a correspondence was found between vowel height and duration. While the durational differences were found to be comparable to those reported in languages with contrastive vowel length, the differences were interpreted as a phonetic strategy to enhance the perceptual salience of the vertical vowel system.

scholarly journals The Most Difficult Vowel Sound Pronunciation among Three Different Semester Students at UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya: An Acoustic Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 53
Author(s):  
Wulansari
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
English Literature ◽  
Common Source ◽  
Vowel Sound ◽  
Grammar Instruction ◽  
Vowel Quality ◽  
Formant Frequencies ◽  
The Common ◽  
Descriptive Qualitative

Speaking language involves different skills like grammar, instruction, vocabulary and pronunciation. in contrast, the researcher only focuses on the students ‘errors on six English vowel quality: /ɪ/, /æ/, /ʌ/, /ɔ:/, /ʊ/, /ɜ:/ made by three different semesters at English Literature, UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya based on the acoustic analysis. The purposes are to know the result of the formant frequencies, so it appears the percentage of the most difficult vowel. This research used descriptive qualitative method. The result of this research shows that the most difficult vowel or vowel error made by three different semesters are vowel /æ/, the total of incorrect vowel quality is 75. The average of the students made those errors was about 28.4%. Based on the data it conducted that the common source of student’s errors on vowels was because of voice happened, knowledge of pronunciation, phonetic symbols and habituation of speaking English.

scholarly journals The influence of emphatic /dˁ/ on Modern Standard Arabic vowels: An acoustic analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-61
Author(s):  
Raya Kalaldeh ◽  
Abd Allah Al-Shdaifat
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Vowel Quality ◽  
Modern Standard Arabic ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Vowel Space ◽  
Modern Standard

Abstract This study is part of a larger project on the influence of Arabic emphatics /tˁ, dˁ, δˁ, sˁ/ on adjacent Arabic vowels by considering three factors: vowel quality, vowel duration and directionality of emphasis spread. This paper investigates the influence of the voiced alveolar emphatic /dˁ/ on the six Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) monophthongs /ɐ – ɪ – ʊ – a: – i: – u:/ as produced by ten Jordanian speakers. The monophthongs in the adjacency of /dˁ/ are compared to those adjacent to the non-emphatic alveolar voiced stop /d/. Results indicate that in the emphatic context, the vowels are clearly retracted in the vowel space and that the extent of the emphatic influence in ‘preceding’ or ‘following’ contexts is not significantly different.

scholarly journals Vowel quality alternation in Dinka verb derivation: The Agar variety

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torben Andersen
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Voice Quality ◽  
Vowel Quality ◽  
Vowel Length ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
Vowel Height

AbstractIn Dinka, a predominantly monosyllabic and highly fusional Western Nilotic language, vowel quality alternation in the root plays a major and systematic role in the morphology of verbs, together with alternations in vowel length, voice quality, and tone. Earlier work has shown that in the inflection of simple, i.e., underived, transitive verbs, the vowel quality alternation conforms to a vowel height gradation system with three vowel grades. The present article shows that this vowel gradation system is also operative in the morphology of derived verbs with a transitive root, but with certain modifications. These include a different distribution of the vowel grades and interaction with a shift in voice quality, to breathy voice.

The Perception of Cantonese Vowel Length Contrast by Mandarin Speakers

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 635-659
Author(s):  
Jingxin Luo ◽  
Vivian Guo Li ◽  
Peggy Pik Ki Mok
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Vowel Quality ◽  
Speech Acquisition ◽  
Vowel Length ◽  
Third Language ◽  
Phonological Knowledge ◽  
Mandarin Speakers

The study investigates the perception of vowel length contrasts in Cantonese by native Mandarin speakers with varying degrees of experience in Cantonese: naïve listeners (no exposure), inexperienced learners (~1 year), and experienced learners (~5 years). While vowel length contrasts do not exist in Mandarin, they are, to some extent, exploited in English, the second language (L2) of all the participants. Using an AXB discrimination task, we investigate how native and L2 phonological knowledge affects the acquisition of vowel length contrasts in a third language (L3). The results revealed that all participant groups could discriminate three contrastive vowel pairs (/aː/–/ɐ/, /ɛː/–/e/, /ɔː/–/o/), but their performance was influenced by the degree of Cantonese exposure, particularly for learners in the early stage of acquisition. In addition to vowel quality differences, durational differences were proposed to explain the perceptual patterns. Furthermore, L2 English perception of the participants was found to modulate the perception of L3 Cantonese vowel length contrasts. Our findings demonstrate the bi-directional interaction between languages acquired at different stages, and provide concrete data to evaluate some speech acquisition models.

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